A trial has begun regarding a railway accident in the Chelyabinsk region

The Zlatoust City Court (Chelyabinsk region) began to consider the merits of the criminal case against two foremen of the South Ural Railway - Alexey Markin and Vadim Lenshin. According to investigators, because of their actions a year ago, 16 cars with iron ore derailed near Chelyabinsk, the total damage amounted to more than 25 million rubles. Vadim Lenshin agreed with the accusation, but Alexey Markin did not admit his guilt.

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Photo: Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia for the Chelyabinsk region

As Kommersant was told in the Zlatoust City Court (Chelyabinsk region), the court heard the indictment in the criminal case of two masters of the South Ural Railway (SUR), Alexey Markin and Vadim Lenshin. Both were charged under Part 1 of Art. 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of traffic safety rules and operation of railway transport), providing for up to two years of imprisonment.

As follows from the materials of the criminal case, the foreman of the road production site for the operation and repair of track machines, Alexey Markin, and the foreman of the road brigade for scheduled maintenance work, Vadim Lenshin, on May 23, 2013, supervised the assemblers on the 1946th km of the Zlatoust-Urzhumka section. Workers carried out repair work on re-lining the track (adjusting the size of the track width). According to investigators, the foremen withdrew from control over the fitters in compliance with the technology for performing the work. This led to the violation of the rules for the technical operation of railways: workers removed part of the spikes securing the rail at a distance of about 50 m. However, the movement of trains in this area was not limited. As a result, during the movement of the freight train, 16 cars loaded with iron ore, heading to Chelyabinsk Iron and Steel Works OJSC (Mechel Group), derailed. There were no casualties. According to the court, investigators estimated the total damage from the actions of the defendants at more than 25 million rubles.

The defendants' lawyers could not be reached. As explained in court, during the preliminary hearings, Vadim Lenshin fully admitted his guilt, and his colleague denied the charges and during the investigation completely refused to give any testimony, citing Art. 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

The press service of the South Ural Railway was unable to promptly respond to Kommersant’s request. This was not the only case of carriage derailment in the Chelyabinsk region over the past year. On February 12, on the Khrebet-Urzhumka section of the Southern Ukrainian Railway, 30 cars of a freight train loaded with coal derailed; 400 m of the odd-numbered track was damaged, and more than 300 m of the even-numbered track. There were no casualties. According to one version, the cause of the derailment could be the unsatisfactory current maintenance of the road.

Igor Lesovskikh, Ivan Ruslyannikov, Ekaterinburg

The derailment of wagons was considered a masterful task