Investigators into rail incident: Engine driver likely chose to override ETCS

Investigators looking into an incident in which a passenger train from Brno went through a red light signal near Letovice station on Thursday evening, narrowly avoiding a collision with an express train, say the ETCS signaling system which should have stopped the train in an emergency, was active at the time.  Jan Kučera, inspector general of the Railway Inspectorate, told the ctk news agency that the driver apparently chose to override the system, which is possible under certain conditions. It is not yet clear why he would have taken such a decision and whether the train was ultimately stopped by the driver or by the ETCS system. A conclusive report is expected in several weeks’ time.