Turkish television showed emergency workers at the scene in snowy conditions trying to free people from carriages trapped beneath the wreckage of the overpass at Marşandiz train station, about five miles from Ankara’s main station. “Suddenly there was a frightening breakage … and the train was off the rail.”The cause of the crash is not known, but engineering and rail workers’ unions have repeatedly said cost-cutting programmes and the axing of route inspector jobs five years ago have created safety issues. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Wreckage covered rail tracks after a collision between a high-speed train and a service train. In July, 24 people were killed and more than 70 injured when most of a passenger train derailed in Çorlu, in north-west Turkey, after torrential rains caused part of the rail tracks to collapse. Last month 15 people were injured when a passenger train collided with a freight train in the central province of Sivas.

Source: The Guardian December 13, 2018 06:29 UTC