Evening all,
As promised I had followed proceedings in Traunstein on day 1 in the local Bavarian media. Not sure how many on here read German, but I found the local state media (Bayerische Rundfunk) had also tweeted live from the court room and that can be read here http://www.br.de/nachrichten/bad-aibling-zugunglueck-140.html. Süddeutsche Zeitung (a national daily based in Munich) also has some good articles e.g. http://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/prozess-fahrdienstleiter-von-bad-aibling-spielte-bei-der-arbeit-oft-auf-dem-handy-trotz-verbot-1.3243156
First thing to say is the poor signalman is clearly deeply affected by this and he issued an apology at the opening of proceedings to the families/friends of those who lost their lives/were injured. He also noted he has to suffer the burden of his actions every day. I think as humans we can all appreciate how horrid that is no matter if he is convicted or not.
He is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and involuntary bodily harm.
A few interesting points:
1) He has admitted to playing on his phone at the time and also to the fact he hit the wrong emergency button to warn of the impending crash. As is his right, I understand he is leaving it to the prosecution to demonstrate its case and that he did not act with the appropriate duty of care and therefore is guilty of the charges.
2) The prosecution has outlined its case. It alleges that he was playing the game Dungeon Hunter 5 on his phone at the relevant time (also that records show he was regularly playing this on phone while on shift contrary to the rules and regs). According to the prosecution he confused the timetable lines as he was distracted, having already set the route for the train from Rosenheim to leave Kolbermoor. The train from Holzkirchen to Rosenheim was in the platform at Bad Aibling and he then tried to set the route, the interlocking clearly not allowing it.
Unfortunately, rather than double checking why which would have meant he saw the other train in block, he seems to have directly issued Befehl A via the Zs1 signal for the train to leave towards Holzkirchen. He should under the rules have checked and proved the route was secure first [not covered in the media but again he would quickly have seen the block was occupied].
He also cleared the red block signal near the halt (as the other train was in the section between there and Kolbermoor) using Zs1 for the train to pass the signal at danger.
He realised his mistake 42 seconds before the crash, but tragically sent an emergency broadcast for trains to stop to neighbouring signal boxes twice instead of the drivers as he pressed the wrong button.
The collision took place in a curve, with one train at 51 Km/h and the other at 78 Km/h.
3) He will by mutual agreement not be going back to his job and if convicted could face up to 5 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.
The case continues and is the hearing is scheduled for 7 days with judgement expected on 5 December.
As promised I had followed proceedings in Traunstein on day 1 in the local Bavarian media. Not sure how many on here read German, but I found the local state media (Bayerische Rundfunk) had also tweeted live from the court room and that can be read here http://www.br.de/nachrichten/bad-aibling-zugunglueck-140.html. Süddeutsche Zeitung (a national daily based in Munich) also has some good articles e.g. http://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/prozess-fahrdienstleiter-von-bad-aibling-spielte-bei-der-arbeit-oft-auf-dem-handy-trotz-verbot-1.3243156
First thing to say is the poor signalman is clearly deeply affected by this and he issued an apology at the opening of proceedings to the families/friends of those who lost their lives/were injured. He also noted he has to suffer the burden of his actions every day. I think as humans we can all appreciate how horrid that is no matter if he is convicted or not.
He is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and involuntary bodily harm.
A few interesting points:
1) He has admitted to playing on his phone at the time and also to the fact he hit the wrong emergency button to warn of the impending crash. As is his right, I understand he is leaving it to the prosecution to demonstrate its case and that he did not act with the appropriate duty of care and therefore is guilty of the charges.
2) The prosecution has outlined its case. It alleges that he was playing the game Dungeon Hunter 5 on his phone at the relevant time (also that records show he was regularly playing this on phone while on shift contrary to the rules and regs). According to the prosecution he confused the timetable lines as he was distracted, having already set the route for the train from Rosenheim to leave Kolbermoor. The train from Holzkirchen to Rosenheim was in the platform at Bad Aibling and he then tried to set the route, the interlocking clearly not allowing it.
Unfortunately, rather than double checking why which would have meant he saw the other train in block, he seems to have directly issued Befehl A via the Zs1 signal for the train to leave towards Holzkirchen. He should under the rules have checked and proved the route was secure first [not covered in the media but again he would quickly have seen the block was occupied].
He also cleared the red block signal near the halt (as the other train was in the section between there and Kolbermoor) using Zs1 for the train to pass the signal at danger.
He realised his mistake 42 seconds before the crash, but tragically sent an emergency broadcast for trains to stop to neighbouring signal boxes twice instead of the drivers as he pressed the wrong button.
The collision took place in a curve, with one train at 51 Km/h and the other at 78 Km/h.
3) He will by mutual agreement not be going back to his job and if convicted could face up to 5 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.
The case continues and is the hearing is scheduled for 7 days with judgement expected on 5 December.