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Tragedy: Four killed after car drives into train at rail crossing in Hungary
A devastating rail accident in north-eastern Hungary has claimed the lives of four people, including a child, after a car drove onto a railway crossing despite a red warning signal and collided with a passenger train near Sátoraljaújhely on Thursday afternoon.
Collision at a functioning level crossing
The fatal crash occurred at a level crossing on Route 37, where a passenger train travelling from Szerencs to Sátoraljaújhely struck a car that had entered the tracks moments before the train arrived. According to Hungary’s state railway company, MÁV, the light signal system at the crossing was operating correctly and clearly showed a red warning at the time of the collision.
The train involved was the 16:04 service from Szerencs, identified as train number 5236. Despite emergency braking, the train was unable to avoid hitting the vehicle.
All four occupants of the car died at the scene. Authorities later confirmed that one of the victims was a 10-year-old child, Telex reports. The identities of the victims have not yet been officially released.
Train passengers unharmed
MÁV confirmed that only a small number of passengers were travelling on the train at the time of the accident. None of them were injured. Emergency responders from Hungary’s disaster management authority escorted passengers safely from the train to replacement buses arranged to continue their journeys.
For a reason I could never fathom, a disproportionate percentage of Hungarians show a cavalier disregard for warning lights at level crossings. Considering the risks inherent in getting in wrong, one would expect greater circumspection, as demonstrated by this latest tragedy.
A separate but indirectly related issue is that historically low levels of investment in both the rail network and local roads has resulted in perhaps the highest percentage of level crossings of any nation in the EU, the situation largely unchanged from a century ago. I’ve driven far and wide in Europe and haven’t seen as many level crossings in other countries, places where investment is routinely made so that that main roads go under or over railway lines to eradicate the risk of collision.
Perhaps playing chicken with the train is part of the national psyche, an expression of masculinity while behind the wheel?