FOUR people, including three from the same family, were killed and 52 injured when two trains collided head-on in Zagazig, Sharqiya governorate, in the Nile Delta on Saturday afternoon.

A passenger train from Zagazig to Ismailia collided with another train going from Mansoura to Zagazig, a statement by the Transport Ministry said.

The Public Prosecution, which opened an investigation on Saturday, on Tuesday released the drivers of the two trains but detained the signal tower worker involved in the crash for four days pending a further investigation.

Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Industry and Transport Kamel Al-Wazir ordered the formation of a committee of railway experts to investigate the technical reasons behind the accident, indicating to journalists that human error was the cause. However, Al-Wazir added that it was up to the Public Prosecution to determine the exact cause of the incident.

According to eyewitnesses and those injured, the cause of the accident might have been due to the track switch operator.

They noted that the train travelling from Zagazig to Ismailia crashed into the other train while it was stationary, waiting for the tracks to clear.

Egypt’s dilapidated railway network frequently made the headlines up to mid-2021 following major accidents. The latest was a train collision in Sohag governorate in April 2021 which killed 18 people and injured 200 others.

According to data from the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) released in March, train accidents in Egypt decreased by 78 per cent in 2023, with 181 incidents recorded compared to 831 in 2022.

In 2023, the number of fatalities in train accidents reached 53, with 51 people injured.

Some LE225 billion have been invested over the past 10 years to improve the railways.

Egypt’s railway sector is the second oldest in the world with 9,570 km of track running across the country. It transports 500 million passengers annually.

Financial compensation for the families of those who died in Saturday’s crash has been set at LE50,000, an exceptional measure. Compensation for the injured will be determined based on the extent of their injuries.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 19 September, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly