SHORTLY after taking office in Ahmed Nazif's government in January 2006, former minister of transport Mohamed Mansour had to deal with a horrific rail crash that happened in Qalioub, north of Cairo, claiming 44 lives. At the time, Mansour, a business tycoon, presented a study he had commissioned on the upgrading of the railway service, estimated then to cost some LE6 billion. Herein, the former President ordered allocating the revenues of selling the third licence of the mobile phone service to the Ministry of Transport to implement the recommendations of the study. The media were following up the purchase of new trains and spare parts to implement a comprehensive maintenance plan for the railway service. Nearly four years later, in October 2009, Mansour had to resign in the aftermath of another deadly train crash. The incident triggered a barrage of criticism from the press and parliament, especially because the minister had led a very costly reform programme since 2006 to modernise the railways. No-one at the time or subsequently considered charged Mansour with corruption and the malfunction of his ministry's in spending these huge funds with no noticeable outcome! Now, after some seven years we are still suffering more lethal train crashes without bringing the actual ad hoc officials to justice and are satisfied by, for example, referring the level crossing worker and the monitor of service operations at the scene of the accident to court for trial. This was the case with the Assiut railway accident on November 17; two railway employees are being tried for manslaughter in this case. The accident commonly known as the Manfalut crash took place when a school bus, carrying about 70 schoolchildren between four and six years old, was hit by a train on an open level-crossing near Manfalut in Assiut Governorate, 230 miles south of Cairo. Neither the then minister of transport nor the head of the railway authority, both of whom resigned from their posts in the aftermath of the tragedy, have been brought to account. In addition, the government was satisfied by giving the traditional excuse of the negligence and corruption in the railway service, inherited from successive governments, and offered no plan for upgrading the service so as to prevent the occurrence of further such tragic accidents. Now, there is yesterday's train crash, which happened in the Giza suburb of Badrashin, killing 17 conscripts on their way to camp and injuring 134 others. The Hisham Qandil government is obliged to provide citizens with a speedy and clear prescription to resolve these recurring tragedies or to offer its resignation. It is not acceptable to continue witnessing more train crashes that end with the jailing of the level-crossing worker or the driver, without questioning the officials who are doing nothing to upgrade a deteriorating railway service.
