Frontal impact

Investigators found the culprit of the accident near the Yaroslavl station

The largest railway accident in the last decade - the emergency did not reach the status of a disaster due to the lack of deaths - occurred on Monday evening in Moscow. Just a kilometer from the platform of the Yaroslavl station, a shunting diesel locomotive and passenger train No. 43 Khabarovsk-Moscow met in opposite directions. The total number of victims, according to the final data of the authorities, was 47 people, mostly passengers. Yesterday the Moscow-Yaroslavl transport prosecutor's office opened a criminal case under Art. 263-1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of traffic safety rules and operation of railway transport) and almost immediately named the main suspect through whose fault the collision occurred. According to investigators, most likely charges will be brought against the driver of the Moscow-Yaroslavl Railway depot, Pyotr Novichkov, who, while driving a shunting diesel locomotive, ignored the prohibitory semaphore sign. Yesterday, First Deputy Minister of Railways Vadim Morozov admitted his subordinate's guilt, although he made a reservation that the investigation has yet to find out exactly why the driver did not pay attention to the signal.

According to the prosecutor's office, the accident occurred at 21.53 near the Moscow-3 station. At that moment, a shunting diesel locomotive ChS-3 left the Yaroslavskoye depot, which was supposed to tow several cars. The main route was already blocked due to the approaching passenger train, but for some reason the driver did not notice the semaphore signal, and the arrow from the dead end was switched automatically. At the time of the accident, both locomotives were moving at low speed - the passenger train had already dropped it to 20-25 km/h before arriving at the station; for the diesel locomotive it did not exceed, according to preliminary data, generally 10 km/h. However, they came towards each other when the distance between the trains no longer exceeded 100 meters, and, taking into account the inertia of the multi-ton colossus, they could no longer physically slow down.

As investigators found out, the driver of the electric locomotive of train No. 43 noticed the danger less than half a minute before the collision. Having turned on the emergency brake, he sent the assistant out of the cab and until the last moment he himself did everything possible to slow down as much as possible. However, even with this, the frontal impact turned out to be truly monstrous - a 60-ton diesel locomotive with a heavier passenger train was thrown several meters and overturned, and the electric locomotive and three lead cars of the Khabarovsk train derailed, fortunately not falling on its side.

In total, the ambulance crews counted 47 victims at the scene of the accident, most of whom received severe bruises and fractures. 18 of them had to be sent to the Central Hospital of the Ministry of Railways, while the rest were released after examination and first aid on the spot. By yesterday evening, according to the prosecutor's office, only 10 victims of the collision remained in the hospital, including the drivers of both locomotives. It was their condition that the doctors assessed as the most serious - Pyotr Novichkov and Sergei Filippov received open fractures of their legs, bruises to the chest and head and remained in intensive care. According to experts, they will not be able to get back on their feet until May.

Yesterday, the leadership of the Ministry of Railways announced that the issue of compensation for damage to those affected by this emergency had been agreed upon in general. According to Zhanna Shanurova, a representative of the ZHASO insurance company, since insurance was included in the price of tickets, all passengers who sought medical care will receive compensation, which, however, will not exceed the amount of 6 thousand rubles.

Representatives of the Ministry of Railways generally assessed the incident as a manifestation of the growing trend in accident rates that has been continuing since the early 90s, the reason for which is the simplest - a lack of funds for modern safety systems. Moreover, several years ago, according to statistics, the railway gave way to water transport as the safest means of transportation.

Alexander RASKIN