The Reason of Ankara Train Accident is Again, Lack of Signaling

Two freight trains collided head to head in Ankara. Two mechanics died in the accident. BTS General Secretary Özdemir rebelled, saying, "Because the signaling system of the line was not completed, there was another disaster."

A train accident occurred in Ankara's Kalecik district on 10.10.2020 around 06.30 in the morning. The freight train departing from the Çankırı-Kayseri direction and the freight train departing from the Kayseri-Çankırı direction collided head-on. Two mechanics died in the accident in Kalecik, while two mechanics were taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

İsmail Özdemir, General Secretary of the United Transport Workers Union (BTS), who made investigations at the scene after the disaster, said, "There was another disaster because the signaling system of the line was not completed."

Özdemir said that there was general rehabilitation on the Irmak-Zonguldak railway line, the signaling system was installed but not fully completed and there were deficiencies, The signalization system should also be in electronic communication with the locomotives on the line, the communication systems on the locomotive did not work, the electronic communication from the road could not be read. stated that if he had, he would not send the oncoming train to the road and would brake,

Özdemir stated that the locomotive from Çankırı direction to Kayseri direction is reverse and that the locomotive has a locomotive cabin on one side of the 21-meter-long locomotive, which prevents the view of the engineers from controlling the locomotive in the opposite direction, and in central places such as Çankırı, Karabük, Irmak, Zonguldak It was determined that the Plaktorna that turns the direction of the locomotives must be Plaktorna, that the Plate in Karabük is constantly out of order and does not work, and the Plate in Çankırı was transferred to the Municipality and a playground was built on the land.

However, following the major fatal train accidents, the bad situation of the railways comes to the agenda, and the accidents with financial losses or only personnel injuries or loss of life are not mainly on the public agenda.

Expressing that the automatic brake on the machine is not working, Özdemir pointed out that another system deficiency is that the automatic brake on the machine is not working, and added: “The last factor that causes the accident is the lack of a field where the direction of the train will be changed technically. Electric locomotives have cabins in both directions for the mechanic. But there is only one cabin in these crashed trains. Think like a bus. The direction of the train changes on the device we call a plate at the railway facility in order to ensure that the trains go in that direction. This facility was located in Çankırı, but this land was given to the municipality. The municipality uses this area as a playground. In other words, the drivers using the train were using the trains that they commanded from the opposite direction and the view angle was difficult. When the deficiencies in communication and signaling were added to the lack of visibility, a disaster occurred. As long as this system is not deficient, there will be new disasters. "