While the reports into the Qalyoub train collision have yet to be made public, leaks and rumours abound, reports Pierre Loza Following the Qalyoub train collision Minister of Transportation Mohamed Mansour formed a technical committee -- as happened in the wake of the Al-Salam ferry disaster -- to investigate the reasons for the disaster. Simultaneously the general prosecutor formed an investigative committee to determine criminal responsibility. Fifty nine people were killed when the 6:30am Benha to Cairo train stopped close to Qalyoub station. Minutes later the 7am Mansoura to Cairo train rammed into the stationary carriages, overturning three. The Mansoura engine then burst into flames. The Ministry of Transportation committee includes experts and academics. "To ensure its independence, the minister has appointed a committee made up of experts from outside the Railway Authority," said Hala Fawzi, the Ministry of Transportation's spokeswoman. It will analyse the technical causes of the accident, and has no mandate to determine criminal responsibility. "The committee has been entrusted with uncovering elements of negligence, in an effort to highlight the conditions that made such a tragedy possible and in order to prevent its future occurrence," explains Fawzi. Mohamed Salah, in charge of distributing compensation from the Ministry of Social Security, says all 150 injured passengers, as well as the families of those killed, have received compensation. Initially set at LE1,000 for the injured, and LE5,000 for the families of the those killed, the figures were increased following the intervention of President Hosni Mubarak, with the families of the dead receiving a compensation package of LE30,000. This figure will be further supplemented by insurance payments of up to LE20,000 for those killed. "We were already dispersing compensation on the day the accident took place though of course many people were preoccupied with burying their dead," says Salah. Follow up visits by social workers to assist the families of those affected by the disaster continue. Abdel-Fatah Abdel-Atti, the Mansoura train driver, died last week while in the intensive care unit of the Nile Hospital. Police reports have revealed that both the trains' drivers tested negative for narcotic substances. Edward Malak, the driver of the Benha train, has been remanded in custody for a further 15 days. "They are keeping him in jail to pacify public opinion, but everyone knows he was simply following the light signals in front of him," insists Mahmoud El-Sisi, head of the Egyptian Train Drivers' Association. A recent article in the daily Al-Masri Al-Yom claims that the technical report, expected to be released in the next few days, had identified a dysfunction in the signalling system which directs the movement of trains. "When the Benha train reached signal number 114 it was green so he continued to the next signal point. The signal that followed was solid red, which is why the driver left the train and went to call the observation tower," said El-Sisi. The normal sequence for ordering a train to stop is a flashing green light, followed by amber and then solid red. When the Mansoura train passed signal 114 it was still solid green, telling the driver to continue within the speed limit. It was as a result of poor visibility, claims El-Sisi, that the Mansoura driver did not see the stationary train before it was too late. "The investigation committee formed by the general prosecutor has already established the innocence of the Benha driver after examining the train's black box," says El-Sisi. El Sisi, like many railway employees, has a second job, working as a taxi driver to supplement his monthly salary of LE600. The conditions in which railway employees work, he says, are demoralising. "The rest areas where drivers are supposed to recuperate between trips aren't even fit for animals," he complains. Signal tower technicians often don't have ladders to get to their posts and have to climb on bricks or use a rope. "We face many problems, a lack of spare parts, of training, in addition to being understaffed since a policy of no new recruitment was instigated. And none of these problems has been addressed by the Railway Authority," says El-Sisi. After decades of neglect he thinks the government's LE8.5 billion railway investment initiative, unveiled following the crash, is now unlikely to be enough. "The reason we are in this position is because of the lack of any consistent, coherent management." While a recent report by the Central Financial Auditing Unit (CFAU) identified financial as well as managerial shortcomings within the Railway Authority. Hanafi Abdel-Qawi, head of the authority, until he was sacked last week, has been unavailable for comment, saying he was "on holiday when the collision took place" and was therefore "in no position to explain what happened to the public". The CFAU report found that 192 carriages and 27 engines had been out of service for up to eight years as they awaited refurbishment. The report also said the authority was owed LE720 million, and that it had failed to capitalise on alternative income sources to the tune of LE453 million.
