Belgian train in Dutch rail crash

1 October 2004

BRUSSELS – Forty-five people were injured in a collision between a Belgian freight train and a Dutch inter-city passenger train in the Netherlands which caused international services running between the two countries to be shut down early Friday.

The accident occurred on Thursday evening near the Dutch town of Roosendaal causing commuter chaos.

Just before 18.00, an intercity train carrying nearly 400 passengers was in a frontal collision with the goods train which was approaching the station on the same track.

Both trains were travelling at between 25 and 30kmh per hour and neither was derailed by the accident.

Although the passenger train was not travelling at speed, the shock of the impact left some commuters with broken bones or head injuries.

The driver of the Belgian freight train was taken to hospital along with around 20 passengers.

Train traffic to and from Roosendaal was stopped after the accident.

Consequently no international trains operated between the Netherlands and Belgium until the lines were cleared on Friday morning.

An enquiry has been opened to establish the cause of the incident.

Meanwhile, the Belgian rail company, SNCB has said it will not appeal a police tribunal verdict that it was guilty for the Pecrot crash in 2001 in which eight people died.

The SNCB has been fined EUR 100,000 for its role in causing the accident.

Subject: Belgian news