Prague — The operator of the passenger train involved in a fatal collision in the Czech Republic this week announced on Saturday that it is to withdraw 13 Austrian-built sleeper carriages from service following the discovery of a construction fault.
Four people died and a further 23 were injured in the accident in Pardubice in the early hours of Thursday morning, when a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train. The cause of the accident has not yet been established.
The night express operated by RegioJet had been travelling from Prague to Košice in Slovakia. According to the emergency services, more than 300 passengers were on board.
RegioJet said in its statement that the carriage frame between the first and second compartments in the Austrian-built sleeper carriage had broken in the collision and that this had caused the deaths of the four passengers.
Further investigation had revealed that a sleeper carriage of the same type operated by Austria's ÖBB national rail service had shown similar damage following a less serious accident near Salzburg in 2018.
A decision has now been taken to scrap all sleeper carriages of this design, it said.
Transport experts see the Czech rail network as in great need of renewal.
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