Ministry of Transport Releases Report on Çorlu Train Derailment After 415 Days

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The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has released a report on the train derailment which occurred in Çorlu, Tekirdağ on 8 July 2018, where  25 people, including seven children, were killed and 340 were injured.

While the report mentioned negligence and shortcomings, it frequently highlighted "rainfall" as the cause of the accident. It cited "the fact that control and oversight of the line have not been modernized."

The report said that there was no notice or warning to prevent the incident as no train or staff was operating on the line regarding the weather conditions cited as the cause of the accident.

The culvert, which caused the accident, was estimated to be about 145 years old, "considering that the Istanbul-Edirne section of the Rumeli railway line entered service in 1873," the report underscored.

The final inspection of the culvert before the accident was carried out in May 2018 under the spring inspection, and it was determined that the culvert's pitch was not full and that no cleaning was needed in the course, according to the report.

The report stated the following about the meteorological conditions that led to the collapse of the culvert and the inspections that had to be done and carried out accordingly:

"In such extraordinary circumstances, the relevant units have been warned about excessive rainfall by saying that pedestrian controls should be increased in places deemed necessary.

"The manager responsible for the line segment where the accident occurred made the most recent road control on 26/06/2018, did not detect any negativity on tour, and did not receive any notice of excessive rainfall prior to the accident." (TP/VK)