“This is a serious railway accident of the highest severity class. Officially I heard that the speed was 60 km, which means that there was a reduction. But whether it was caused by temperature expansion, there is information unofficially that the line has been repaired. That is why I said that it should be seen by experts whether the repair has been completed. This must be proven.“
This is what Professor Simeon Ananiev, Chairman of the Association of Experts and Experts, said about the train accident near Pyasuchevo.
According to him, two sides must be analyzed - the infrastructure and the carrier.
“From the infrastructure, it must be seen when the road was repaired, how it was repaired, what its current condition is, whether it has the relevant safety certificates, whether it has a so-called notify body – an authority that passes by with a machine and checks the serviceability of the rails. Whether all this has been complied with. After that, we go to the carrier – are the wagons, locomotives, registered in the European register, whether the repair and inter-repair deadlines have been complied with, whether they have safety certificates“, said the expert.
According to him, the recording devices similar to the black boxes must show at what speed the locomotive was moving throughout the entire journey. There could be many reasons for the accident.
„A technical malfunction, the rails could have expanded from the heat, a track could have broken, anything is possible. That is why it is very important that everything is accurately described and photographed during the expert examinations. There are regulations for both automobile and railway (editor's note - cargo), safety wagons, the appropriate speed, documents are very important, the load is monitored, the technical condition of the wagons is also monitored the most, whether they meet the requirements“, Simeon Ananiev also said.
The serviceability and safety of the tanks is checked by the executive agency “Railway Administration“, the professor added.
„There are safety certificates, technical inspections, and this independent body, the Notify Body, can also check them. Control is important. I will give another example from the expert examinations that have been conducted recently. Massive damage to BDZ tankers and lawsuits are being filed. What happens? These tankers are out of service, they are prohibited from being driven outside Bulgaria, but they are driven in Bulgaria and there are regular, but smaller accidents. The number is being changed. There have been two recent cases of implosion - that is, the tankers collapsing during draining,“ he pointed out.
According to Simeon Ananiev, in the end it all comes down to who will pay for the damages - in this case, the company Bulmarket or the National Railways. The company is the same one that owned the ill-fated tankers in the train accident in Hitrino. And the lawsuits continue there.
“Those punished are subject to criminal proceedings. Then it starts who will pay. The victims sue both the National Railways and the carrier company “Bulmarket“. And there the experts prove the distribution of blame in their expert reports and from there the court determines who will pay. "There are 50 cases related to compensation," said the chairman of the Association of Experts and Experts.
Unlike Hitrino, there were no victims in the incident near Pyasuchevo, but the damages are yet to be calculated, the expert added. According to him, the case will last at least five years.