‘We are Facing Consequences of Negligence, Irresponsibility’

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"Nothing has changed. Yet another accident waiting to happen."

Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) Chamber of Civil Engineers Chair Cemal Gökçe has made a statement regarding the high speed train collision that took place in Ankara yesterday (December 13) and claimed the lives of nine people and injured 86 others.

Speaking about the collision, Gökçe has said, "We are all together facing the bitter consequences of negligence and irresponsibility."

Referring to another train accident that occurred in the district of Çorlu in Tekirdağ on July 8, 2018 and claimed the lives of 25 people, Gökçe has added that no lessons have been taken from this accident.

Here are some of the highlights from Gökçe's statement:

"We face consequences of negligence, irresponsibility"

"It has long been known in our country that the system of meritocracy has disappeared and science, engineering and technique have been seriously neglected. Unfortunately, we are all together facing the bitter consequences of negligence and irresponsibility.

"According to the inspections conducted on the rail line and the information obtained afterwards, there was no signalization system on the railroad between Ankara and Sincan. The High Speed Train was sent to the the area before the guiding train reached the Ankara Terminal, which can be explained as the apparent reason of the accident.

"Science and engineering are disregarded"

"Unfortunately, in recent years, science and engineering have been disregarded so that new railways can be quickly constructed and put into operation. For that reason, the safety of life and property has been seriously neglected and a judgement has been made based on the consequences of an incident, rather than the incident itself.

"We are warning once again: It is not possible to reach positive results by disregarding science, technique and engineering."

What happened?

A high speed train crashed into another train in the capital city of Ankara, leaving nine people dead and 86 people wounded. Three of the deceased were the drivers of the train.

The train was reportedly going around at 90 km/h when it crashed into a guiding train, which was carrying out track inspections. Two cars of the high speed train derailed after the collision, crashing into abutment of a footbridge. The footbridge collapsed onto the cars. (HA/SD)