Luxembourg rail company admits fault in French train crash

Luxembourg's state rail company admitted on Sunday that human error on the part of its employees was to blame for a train collision in northeast France that killed six people last Wednesday, local media reported.

"It's tough to say, but it's the fault of the CFL (the company, Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois)," Luxembourg Transport Minister Lucien Lux told press on Sunday.

The accident occurred on Wednesday, when a passenger train from Luxembourg carrying around 20 people and a cargo train smashed head-on just 1.5 km (one mile) south of the Luxembourg border.

The two trains hit each other on a bend as they moved in opposite directions along the same track while a parallel line was undergoing maintenance work.

Apart from the fatalities, 16 people were injured, two seriously.

Lux said the findings of an inquiry into the accident were " inescapable."

"The main responsibility must be assumed on the Luxembourg side, meaning the CFL," he was quoted as saying by local press.

A joint statement by the CFL and its French counterpart, the SNCF, said experts concluded that a Luxembourg track signaling center gave the fateful instruction to the Luxembourg train to move on to the single-use track even though the freight train was already on it.

French Transport Minister Dominique Perben said both national rail companies had displayed "very good cooperation" in the investigation and had not tried to duck blame.

Source: Xinhua