On Monday morning, around 4:00 am, a CFR Călători train collided with a freight train carrying cars at Roșiori Nord station, although initially almost all public reports claimed that the passenger train braked hard to avoid the collision. What happened there? How was it possible for several government institutions to lie by keeping silent in official reports about the guilt of freight train drivers?

The passenger train did not run on the same line as the freight train

On Monday morning at Rosiorii de Vede, in Teleorman, the passenger train IR 1822 Arad – Bucharest collided with a freight train DB Schenker, which was heading on line 5, was preparing for the station and consisted of 26 wagons with Ford cars that were being transported to the port of Constanța.

Initially, the releases of CFR SA and CFR Călători spoke about the sudden braking of the passenger train, and the driver did it to avoid a collision with the freight train. It turned out that the freight train was at fault, where three cars derailed and the passenger car braked to avoid a collision.

• VIDEO Serious event on the railway in Teleorman. A passenger train collided with a freight train, the driver ran a red light. At first, the authorities did not mention anything about the impact

But the collision did happen, and this was also confirmed and explained by CFR Infrastructura after 13:00, explaining that the driver of train IR 1822, who was about to enter the station on a different line, exceeded the station’s exit signal, which he was already in position stop (in red) and collided with the last carriage of a freight train heading to the station.

The DB Schenker train carried Ford Puma cars from the Craiova plant to the port of Constanta and traveled approximately 110 km, of which 330 km to the port. IR 1822 departed Arad at 18:04 on Sunday, traveled ten hours for 504 km and had another 100 km to go. The train was supposed to stop at Roșiori Nord from 3.59 to 4.01.[330kmpânăînportTrenulIR1822plecaseduminicălaora1804dinAradrulasezeceorepe504kmșimaiavea100dekmpânăladestinațieTrenultrebuiasăstationationelaRoșioriNorddela359la401[330kmpânăînportTrenulIR1822plecaseduminicălaora1804dinAradrulasezeceorepe504kmșimaiavea100dekmpânăladestinațieTrenultrebuiasăstaționezelaRoșioriNorddela359la401

A few things are clear: the CFR Călători train was NOT allowed to be on the same track as the freight train carrying the Ford cars, and even if it mistakenly entered the same track, it should have stopped in time to avoid a collision.

It is not known, and it will be determined by the investigation, whether the hitchhiking system on the track slowed the passenger train, or whether the driver braked. Most likely, the emergency braking was activated automatically.

It must be said that the rules on the railways are like in the army, it is clear on which line each train goes and how long it must stand “at the signal” and it is very rare, even in Romania, that two trains collide, this is also helped by the presence of numerous speed limits, because of which the journey takes a long time.

Many times when you ride a train, you can see it stop “in a field” or at a station to wait for another train, possibly of a higher rank. Trains wait for each other to ensure everyone passes in complete safety, and there are automatic warning and braking systems. Running a red light is a serious offense and happens very, very rarely.

Although everything happened as I have described, at 11 o’clock it seemed very unlikely that a collision had occurred, and people wondered why the Ford cars had derailed.

Strong collision

However, information appeared in the sources that the trains had collided. After 11 a.m. Club Feroviar wrote, citing industry sources, that the derailment at Roșiori could have happened via CFR Călători, because at 3:55 a.m. the locomotive of train IR 1822 exceeded the station’s red entrance signal.

Railway sources contacted by HotNews.ro confirmed that the collision occurred and that the derailment of three car cars was caused by a passenger train hitting a freight train with cars, the train stopped on one of the lines. from Roșiori Nord station.

Official confirmation came after 12:00 p.m., when the director of the Romanian railway investigation agency AGIFER confirmed that two trains had collided. “Train 1822 CFR Călători at the entrance to Roșiori Nord station passed through a stop signal,” Laurentiu Dumitru told Radio Romania Actualitații.

AGIFER will conduct a detailed investigation and it will take some time to release the official results. Rail traffic was disrupted on Highway 100, there were long delays, but due to a software problem, real-time train delays were not displayed on the Infofer portal and the CFR Călători app for several days.

Blatant lack of communication at CFR Călători

So, in the case of Rosiori, everything is completely different: the institutions gave incomplete information, and the Ministry of Transport has not yet said anything. Among all railway companies, CFR Călători has the worst communication, responding late and rarely giving details about delays and problems.

Alin Şerbenescu, spokesman for CNAIR and Minister of Transport, also spoke about the silence of CFR Călători. He accused CFR Călători of being “silent” about the railway accident on Monday morning. “There was a human error here. Basically, a locomotive or an accelerated train ran a red light. Fortunately, the automatic braking system worked, and there was no tragedy,” said the MT representative on the air of the “Noviny Pas” program on the B1 TV channel.

When asked why MT is silent for several hours, the official stated: “It is not the Ministry of Transport that is silent, it is CFR Călători! For the most part, CFR Călători is silent. Apart from this statement, after that he did not give anything – and in CFR Călători it is a tradition to remain silent.”

“And now, because something happened, he had to come out and speak, as, by the way, does CNAIR, where I am the press secretary. Every company has a communication structure (…). It is not normal for a company that has a communication structure to be silent for hours,” added Alin Sherbenescu.

13 people were injured, four of them required medical assistance, but no one is in serious condition.