Human error was to blame for the German train crash that claimed 11 lives last week, prosecutors have said.
The train’s dispatcher is being investigated on suspicion of negligent homicide, bodily harm and interference with rail traffic.
Chief prosecutor Wolfgang Giese did not identify the dispatcher but said that his office has opened a criminal investigation against the 39-year-old worker.
Mr Giese said that “had he (the train’s dispatcher) behaved according to the rules, the trains would not have collided.”
Dozens of people were injured when two commuter trains collided into each other on a single-line track near Bad Aibling, 40 miles south-east of Munich on Tuesday, February 9th.
Mr Giese said investigators believe the dispatcher, whose job involves directing rail traffic and ensuring safety on the tracks, sent a wrong signal to the trains.
After noticing his mistake, he tried to alert the drivers using an emergency call but failed to prevent the crash, prosecutors said.
The two trains were supposed to pass each other at a station where the track was divided, but instead they crashed head-on on a curve.
Mr Giese said a technical failure of the trains or signalling equipment had been ruled out, but investigators plan to reconstruct the accident to test their theory of what happened.
If convicted the dispatcher could face up to five years in prison.
Fellow prosecutor Jurgen Branz said there was no indication the dispatcher was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the crash. “What we have at the moment is a terrible error in this particular situation,” he said.
PA