State to charge Israel Railways head over June 2006 accident
Ofer Linczewski to be tried for causing death by negligence; probe shows flaws in railway safety procedures.
By Roni Singer-HerutiThe Central District Prosecution on Thursday decided to indict the director general of Israel Railways, Ofer Linczewski, for his role in a June 2006 train accident near Beit Yehoshua that killed five people and wounded dozens.
Linczewski will be charged with causing deaths by negligence. The prosecution intends to raise the same charges against Israel Railways Deputy Director General Harel Evan and Israel Railways' national supervisor of transportation and road accidents, Yuval Bloom.
The decision to indict follows months of police investigation, over the course of which dozens of witnesses were questioned. The inquiry unearthed many flaws in the Israel Railways' safety procedures.
The accident took place when a Tel Aviv-Haifa passenger train collided with a pickup truck stuck on the tracks near Beit Yehoshua, south of Netanya. Less than two hours before the accident, an Israel Railways lookout left the crash site due to light train activity at that time of day, the railway has said. The site is one of Israel Railways' most active areas, with 300 trains passing through daily.
At first, police suspected that Linczewski had only indirect responsibility for the accident, and sought to discover his role in setting Israel Railways' safety policies.
Linczewski told police that the procedures were in place long before he became director general, and investigators attempted to find out which regulations he may have altered and whether he knew about existing flaws but failed to do anything to fix them.
By the later stages of the investigation, the police and prosecution found that there were many safety flaws at Israel Railways that contributed to the Beit Yehoshua crash, and that Linczewski and other senior railway officials did not do enough to prevent the accident.
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Israel Railways Director Gneral Ofer Linczewski (Archives) |
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If what youre saying is true...how about your vote for making Meir the new GM of IR?
Furthermore who interviewed these men for the positions they held. Did they have the correct proffessional creditation. Can they be allowed to blame their predecesers? Why were they not temperally replaced further pending investigations . Why has it taken 16 months to indictment prior to court case. How many years untill case resolved? THE ISRAEL RAILWAY SUFFERS FROM WORLD WAR 2 EUROPEAN RAILWAY-PHOBIA - THE RAILWAY NEEDS REVAMPING AND REFORMING WITH OVERSEAS TRAINING -[NO PUN INTENDED] 60 YEARS ON AND NO RAIL TO THE NORTHEASTERN GALIL-SUCH A TINY COUNTRY -SUCH A POOR RAILWAY . Jordan.
It is very gratifying that finally after 16 months these 3 managers are being indicted. Obviously until proven GUILTY these men are free citizens and iam not hounding after their blood .Having said that i find these men to be totally arrogant -a feeling of being above the law -as seen in the media with interviews last year. Further in my opinion the RAILWAY should have been closed until final investigations approve safety laws. But it transports so many people per day it wasnt practical to close down.