Riga train crash prompts stricter rules for rail drivers

An investigation found that a draisine driver’s inattention caused last year’s collision with a passenger train near Riga Central Station, prompting Latvijas dzelzceļš to tighten requirements for drivers and improve communications near the station, LSM reported.

The draisine, a railway vehicle operated by Latvijas dzelzceļš, collided with an electric train travelling from Riga to Ogre on a weekday afternoon last August. Nearly 100 passengers were on board. No one was injured, but both vehicles and railway infrastructure were badly damaged. The losses were estimated at about 1.5 million euros.

The investigation found that the draisine driver mistook a white signal for a yellow one and then passed a signal prohibiting movement. A station duty officer tried to warn the driver by radio, but the driver did not hear the message. Investigators identified communications problems at the scene, but said these were not the main cause of the crash.

The driver was working in the Riga area on a temporary assignment and was not familiar with it, the report said. Both drivers had rested for at least 14 hours before their shifts, and there was no repair work or other activity at the site. The 37-page report was published in July by the Transport Accident and Incident Investigation Bureau, after an inquiry lasting nearly a year.

The collision was the first in 20 years in Latvia in which a passenger train hit another railway vehicle.