Trains are running again on the railway corridor through Pardubice, on one track and at a limited speed, after an overnight closure to clear the area following the tragic train collision on Wednesday, according to information released on the Cesky Drahy (CD) website.
On Wednesday night, an express passenger train collided head-on with a freight train carrying corrosive and highly flammable calcium carbide at the recently reconstructed Pardubice Central railway station. Four people died in the collision, two Ukrainian and two Slovak women. More than two dozen people were transported to various hospitals with injuries. The express train was headed to Kosice in eastern Slovakia, and onward to the Ukrainian town of Chop, near the Slovak border.
Two of the injured are still in hospital.
The damage to both trains and the railway will exceed CZK 110 million.
Trains did not operate in the rail corridor between Pardubice main station and nearby Kostenice from 10pm on Thursday to 5am today, due to clear-up operation and track repairs. Overnight trains were diverted through Hradec Kralove.
Both locomotives and several freight and passenger carriages were damaged in the collision. Rail firefighters used special equipment to pull the two locomotives apart on Thursday evening and removed all the freight train cars that remained undamaged after the collision.
“The most damaged passenger car remains to be removed. If everything goes according to plan, we expect a significant increase of traffic around 6pm,” said railway firefighters spokesman Martin Kavka.
After removing the damaged carriages, it will be necessary to inspect the track and repair the switches and signalling equipment.
Fast trains are running late due to the accident in Pardubice, with buses running instead of regional connections. According to current estimates, the restrictions on the busy railway corridor between Prague and Moravia are expected to ease this afternoon.
