A 51-year-old driver has to answer to a judge for causing a train accident at Hooghalen in which a train driver was killed in May 2020. The man, who crossed the track with his tractor, is suspected that he did not look carefully and was not talking hands-free, so that he did not see the train. That writes RTV Drenthe.
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The tractor with a tipper behind it crossed the unguarded railway crossing at Hooghalen on Friday afternoon, May 22, 2020. At that moment a passenger train arrived, which could no longer avoid the tipper.
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Passengers injured too
The train derailed and dragged the tipper hundreds of meters along. Two passengers and a conductor were injured in the crash. The 58-year-old driver did not survive the accident. His death made a big impression on his NS colleagues. Hundreds of colleagues paid tribute at his funeral.
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The tractor driver was uninjured. After extensive investigation, ProRail concluded that the bad weather conditions, among other things, played a role in the accident. Due to the rain and ground fog, the driver did not see the crossing tractor until he was 150 meters away. He slammed the emergency brake in vain and honked.
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The drama shows similarities with an accident on the track between Dalfsen and Ommen in 2016. A train collided with a crossing aerial platform that could only travel very slowly. The Dutch Safety Board made a reconstruction.
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on his phone
After the police investigation, the Public Prosecution Service concludes that the tractor driver was not paying attention and was busy with his telephone. He is due to appear in court on April 7. “It is clear that he was in contact with someone by phone at the time of the accident, but as soon as he had to cross the road, he put the phone down,” says lawyer Tineke Pieters, who represents de Smildeger. “He couldn’t have been talking to the phone and we have several arguments to substantiate that.”
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She would not say what those are before the hearing. Pieters says that the man thinks it is terrible what has happened. “He is just absolutely devastated. The uncertainty of the past two years also gnawed at him.” He only recently learned that the man, a 51-year-old resident from Smilde, must appear in court in two weeks.
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Detour
He struggles enormously with the event and how to deal with it, according to his lawyer. “He is working on it every day and so is his family. This is very difficult’.” She emphasizes that the man never wanted this, of course. “To the left or to the right, that train collided with his tipper, so right behind him. Nobody consciously takes such a risk.”
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The Public Prosecution Service does not want to say anything about the case before the hearing.
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As a result of the accident, the two unguarded level crossings at Hooghalen were closed and a detour was constructed.
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NS employees were at the farewell of their deceased colleague.
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