Israel Railways employees were not responsible for the fire on a car that injured 121 passengers in December 2010, a Ministry of Transport investigative team has concluded. The negligent repair of the double-decker carriage was the main cause of the fire that broke out between Tel Aviv and Netanya near Kibbutz Yakum.
The repair had been carried out by the carriage's European manufacturer Bombardier, which is the supplier of double-decker carriages to Israel Railways. In interim conclusions by the Ministry of Transport's investigations into the accident director general Dan Harel found that, "supervision and maintenance by Israel Railways was lacking," but were caused by, "an absence of appropriate instructions from the manufacturer."
Harel was critical of the lack of cooperation by Bombardier which represents the manufacturer.
The accident was the worst of its kind to take place on Israel Railways in recent years and it was only a miracle that there were no fatalities, transportation sources said.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 27, 2011
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