Spate of rail accidents in the Czech Republic
Another serious train accident occurred in the Czech Republic on Tuesday when a mail train and a regional train crashed into each other. The driver of the regional train was killed. On July 8 two people were killed in a collision near Pernink, and there were two more minor accidents on July 10 and 12. The Czech press demands action.
From one job to the next: overworked train drivers
The fact that some railway employees work for several rail companies has become a problem, Denik N writes:
“In addition to the weather and the current number of coronavirus cases, railway accidents have become evergreen content on Czech TV news programmes. Why? According to the head of the train drivers' union, it's because locomotive drivers are consistently overworked. Nobody checks whether they go straight from working a shift for one company to a shift for another. ... Jana Maláčová, Minister for Labor and Social Affairs, has called for checks, checks and more checks. It sounds simple.”
Neglecting the basics
Hospodářské noviny also poses the question of personnel consequences:
“The transport companies are overstretched. If train drivers do excessive overtime, fatigue can vastly reduce their attention span. On top of this factor there is the general neglect of technical safety. The leadership of the Ministry of Transport is partly to blame. They become intoxicated with dreams of high-speed railways but don't have the usual things, such as compliance with regulations, under control. Karel Havlíček, the current Minister of Transport who is also Minister of Trade and Industry, could give up at least one of his ministries. Overwork and fatigue cause fatal mistakes - and not just on the tracks.”