Cargo train not to blame for French train crash: SNCF

The cargo train which collided with a passenger train in France on Wednesday leaving 12 people dead in the country's most serious accident since 2002 was not to blame for the crash, a French SNCF railway official said on Wednesday.

The cargo train was the first on to the section of track on which the collision happened, said Guillaume Pepy, executive director of the state-owned SNCF rail company. He added that the driver had not passed a red light.

The SNCF rail company said nine people on the passenger train, the drivers of both trains and a person working on the track were killed in the incident. At least 21 were injured, some seriously.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who was en route to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, ordered his plane to return to France, so he could visit the scene. President Jacques Chirac also issued a statement expressing his condolences.

The crash took place at around 11:45 local time at the village of Zoufftgen, 1.6 km south of the Luxembourg border, on a section of track undergoing maintenance work.

The passenger train was a double-decker Luxembourg regional express traveling south to the French city of Nancy. The cargo train had been heading north into Luxembourg.

The SNCF spokesman Philippe Mirvill said the line on which the passenger train was traveling was being repaired, so it switched on to a second track, colliding with the cargo train.

Bertrand Mertz, vice-president of Lorraine regional council, told media that the incident had been caused by a "line-control mistake by people in Luxembourg."

Source: Xinhua