Locomotive that pulled Hitrino disaster train derails at Bulgaria’s Plovdiv railway station
A locomotive that pulled the train that exploded in the Bulgarian village of Hitrino in December 2016 derailed in Plovdiv railway station on February 16 2019, disrupting rail traffic.
The locomotive and first three wagons were derailed, Bulgarian state railways BDZ said.
No one was injured and there was no danger from the train, which was transporting more than 2000 tons of LPG gas from Serbia to a distributor point in Plovdiv.
BDZ said that an investigative commission had been appointed to establish the cause of the derailment.
Plovdiv district prosecutor Roumen Popov said that the locomotive was the same as that involved in the Hitrino disaster. On December 10 2016, a gas tank transport train owned by the Bulmarket company exploded, leaving seven people dead, many seriously injured and causing extensive property damage in the village.
Commenting on the Plovdiv railway station incident, Bulmarket said that the train had been travelling at low speed. The company’s manager, Petar Ganev, said that the initial theory about the cause of the accident was a cracked rail.
The train had been travelling at 35km/h, below the 40km/h speed limit on that stretch of rail.
A National Investigation Service team is assisting in the investigation. Popov said that pre-trial proceedings had been initiated.
(Photo: podtepeto.com)
