Israel Railway officials indicted over Revadim crash
Three years after fatal crash which claimed seven lives, Southern District Prosecution files criminal negligence, negligent homicide charges against railway department heads
The Southern District Prosecution filed an criminal charges against the Israel Railway and three of its top administrators Wednesday, for their involvement in two fatal train wrecks which took place near Kibbutz Revadim in 2005.
The indictment included charges of criminal negligence and negligent homicide.
Seven people were killed and 248 were injured in the Revadim wreck, as the Beersheba-bound train was thrown off the rail after hitting a truck trying to cross the rails in an unauthorized point.
According to the indictment, filed with the Ashkelon Magistrate's Court, three weeks later, another train derailed near Ahuzam, a moshav in the Lachish Regional Council, after hitting a car stalled on the tracks. One person was killed and 63 others were injured.
The State faulted Israel Railway officials Surin Seuvitch – deputy-head of maintenance and infrastructure, Ilia Volkov – assistant director general of research and development and Harel Even – director of the transportation department, for both incidents, as well as the company itself.
Accidents waiting to happen?
The indictment stated that the defendants failed to take the necessary means in order to prevent the Revadim accident, although its location was known to be a hazardous railroad crossing.
Their lack of action, said the prosecution, was made even more grave by the fact that one month prior to the fatal crash, a near-fatal accident was prevented at the exact same location.
According to the charges, the three failed to take the necessary precautions to prevent such incidents: They did not order trains using the route to slow down, nor did they ensure a monitor be stationed at the crossing to spot any vehicles which may be trying to cross the rails.
Israel Railway, said the State, failed to implement an internal report which investigated similar past incidents.
As for the three's liability for the Ahuzam train wreck, the State claimed Israel Railway was aware of a dangerous slope trains were required to cross en route, but did nothing to correct the problem
.
Furthermore, the company failed to implement an order by its one chief executive officer, citing that the Ahuzam crossing must be shut down pending the repair of the railway's deficiencies.
