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BRUSSELS – Two commuter trains collided head-on at rush hour in a Brussels suburb Monday, killing as many as 25 people, Belgian rail officials said. Other officials said the death toll was lower.

Belgian National Railways told the VRT radio network that 25 people had died. The suburb's mayor said the death toll was 20. Lodewijk De Witte, governor of the province of Flemish Brabant, told VRT that 10 people were killed.

The trains collided in light snow just outside of the station at Buizingen around 8:30 a.m. (0730GMT).

The force of the collision smashed one train deep into the front of the other, peeling back the metal sides. The trains tipped high into the air and broke overhead power lines.

"It was a nightmare," Christian Wampach, 47, who was in the third car of a Brussels-bound train, told The Associated Press after his head was bandaged at a sports complex where less serious injuries were treated.

"We were thrown about for about 15 seconds. There were a number of people injured in my car but I think all the dead were in the first car," he said.

Photos from the scene showed rescuers pulling the wounded from a car that appeared to have tipped onto its side. Other emergency officials rushed victims on stretchers along the tracks.

"When we came out we saw dead bodies lying next to the tracks, some mutilated," said Patricia Lallemand, 40, who was in the same car as Wampach, and was uninjured.

"The most recent information we have is that 20 people died," town Mayor Dirk Pieters told VRT. "I base this on what the police and firefighters tell me."

There was no immediate word on the number of injured.

Pieters said the seriously hurt were taken to hospitals and the lightly injured were moved to a Buizingen sports complex.

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme canceled a trip to Kosovo and was on his way home, the Kosovo prime minister's office said.

Leterme's plane turned back minutes after landing at Pristina's main airport, they said.

Eurostar reported on its Web site that its high-speed trains had suspended service in and out of Brussels and could remain shut down all day.

The international high-speed network Thalys, which links major cities in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands, temporarily halted all traffic because its trains use the same rails as commuter lines near Hal, said Patricia Baars, a company spokeswoman.

At least four Thalys trains were stopped en route, and the railway operator deployed staffers to stations where they were rerouted to provide assistance to travelers on board, she said.

"No (Thalys) train is moving for the moment ... it's very hard to know today when services will resume," she said. "It appears this was a very severe accident."

Thalys has at least 25 round-trip trains operating between Paris and Brussels each day, plus seven linking Brussels and Amsterdam and six from Belgium to Cologne, Germany.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash.

It was the most serious Belgian train accident since March 28, 2001, when eight people died when a crowded train plowed into an empty train driving on the wrong tracks.

Indeed very sad news, death toll has increased to 18 people and plenty of casualties.

It seems the safety system (TBL1+ compatible with Europe's ETCS) didn't function (or could not have worked) when one of the train passed the red signal.

Only a quarter of all signals (9000) in Belgium is equipped with this safety system, it is expected to have 8O% by 2013. But, not all locs seem to have this system. Infrabel is reponsible for the rail network infrastructure, the NMBS for the locs. Both are required! But an detailed investigation still have to figure out what really has happened.

Frank

I'm very sorry to hear about this.

Toll could rise from Belgium train crash: operator

By Paul Harrington (AFP) – 17 hours ago

BRUSSELS — Belgium's rail network operator warned Tuesday the death toll from a horrific rail crash near Brussels could rise from the current 18 fatalities, with several people still unaccounted for.

"A certain number of people, I don't know how many, have been reported missing since yesterday," Infrabel spokeswoman Fanny Charpentier told AFP.

"The toll could get worse," said the spokeswoman, adding that search teams were discovering body parts among the carnage caused when two commuters trains collided outside Brussels during the Monday morning rush hour.

Belgian train drivers staged a wildcat strike on Tuesday charging that poor working conditions were a factor in the accident, worsening the disruption to rail travel in and to Belgium.

Eurostar said its services between Brussels and London would remain shut down for a third day Wednesday.

Fellow high-speed train operator Thalys announced the partial resumption of its Paris-Brussels service Tuesday, though a spokeswoman was unable to give any timetable for travel Wednesday.

Rail network operator Infrabel said work to clear the tracks would not be completed for some ten days as investigators pore over the crash site seeking to determine the cause.

One of the train drivers was among the 15 men and three women killed.

Police were waiting to interview the surviving driver who was badly injured in the crash and may be able to shed some light on its cause.

Some 150 others were injured in the accident near the town of Halle, 15 kilometres (nine miles) southwest of Brussels, with several in serious condition.

A row quickly blew up as those involved sought to apportion blame.

Brabant provincial governor Lodewijk De Witte said one of the trains had apparently failed to stop at a red light and hit the other at high speed.

The train line involved is fitted with a security system designed to halt trains automatically at a stop sign.

However one of the trains was not equipped with the system, according to Marc Descheemaecker, a senior official for the SNCB national rail service.

The information caused concern among the train drivers, the Belgian press and beyond.

"Why?" was the one-word headline in the Libre Belgique, under a picture of the smashed commuter trains.

"An avoidable tragedy?" the daily Le Soir asked.

Luc Lallemand, vice-chairman of Infrabel, was in no doubt.

"Yes" he replied, when asked if the accident could have been avoided. "It could have been avoided" if both trains had been fitted with the automatic braking system.

His SNCB counterpart Descheemaecker said: "In 2005 we opted for our own system and decided to equip all the trains but that can't be done all at once."

Descheemaecker said delays in harmonising European rules on automatic braking systems meant it would take until 2013 to equip all SNCB trains with the technology.

That version of events was quickly dismissed by the EU Commission.

"We don't think that at this stage the arguments can be founded on evidence," said commission spokeswoman Helen Kearns, urging all parties to await the results of the official investigation.

An EU transport expert added: "We have absolutely not prevented the Belgian state or the SNCB from installing a national security system."

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Eurostar halted for third day after Belgium rail crash

Eurostar services continue to be affected by the crash in Brussels

Eurostar services between the UK and Brussels will remain suspended for a third day following a train crash in Belgium which killed 18 people.

The collision between two commuter trains, which happened on Monday morning, injured almost 150 other people, 55 of them seriously.

Eurostar has cancelled its trains in and out of the Belgian capital and its Lille services have run with delays.

The Thalys services to France, Germany and the Netherlands are also affected.

Eurostar said passengers due to travel from London to Brussels were "strongly advised to postpone or cancel their journeys" on Wednesday and that passengers could exchange their tickets or get a refund.

Eurostar's services to Paris remain unaffected.

Lille services normally run to and from Brussels. Eurostar said a "very limited" capacity shuttle bus had been used to transfer passengers between the two cities. Its website also listed alternative rail routes.

Stop signal

An investigation has been launched into the rush-hour train collision which happened just outside Brussels.

The front carriages smashed into each other and were forced up into the air, damaging overhead power lines.

One train had been going from Leuven to Braine-le-Comte, while the second train had been travelling from Quievrain to Liege.

Rescue workers spent all of Monday searching the wreckage for victims, fearing that the death toll could rise.

Fifty-five commuters were seriously injured while a further 89 people sustained minor injuries.

As of Monday evening, officials said 15 men and three women had been killed.

The cause of the crash is unknown, but the governor of Flemish Brabant province, Lodewijk De Witte, said one of the trains seemed to have missed a stop signal.

The crashed trains may not be completely removed from the tracks for two or three days, the Brussels public prosecutor's office said, according to Associated Press news agency.

So tragic.

(There are a few eary entries in a duplicate thread:

https://www.marklin-users.net/fo...aspx?g=posts&t=15470)

PS. Sorry for the smiley with the flag. Still an open item!