BARLETTA -- The Apulian rail company Ferrotramviaria is under investigation following a deadly train crash that left 27 dead and over 50 injured earlier this week. Officials say the crash originated at Andria, where station master Vico Piccarreta gave the signal to a train that should not have left the station in the first place, and chief prosecutor Francesco Giannella is now looking into allegations of homicide.

The most probable cause of the collision, however, remains human error, with the 30 kilometre railway line between Corato and Andria seeing a train pass every eight minutes, although others also cite technical faults as being potentially responsible. For, according to CCTV footage, no one at the time seems to have been aware of the problem. Authorities are also looking into the presence of a third train, further down the line, that might have caused the mistake with the first two trains. 

 Nonetheless, this does not fully account for why the second train was given a green light further on from Andria. “We must consider every possibility,” explains chief prosecutor Francesco Giannella, “we cannot stop at what happened on Tuesday.”

 The investigation launched reflects this attention to detail, and the team has been split up into three parts accordingly. 

 The first will focus principally on the collision and the exact chain of events that led to the crash.

 A second, broader investigation, will look into security procedures on the Ferrotramviaria, Bari’s main private railway company, not just leading up to the disaster but also in recent history. “Nothing has changed,” says Marco Piagentini, a survivor of the train crash near Viareggio seven years ago, and this section of the investigation will in part aim to stop any potential reoccurrences. 

 The third, meanwhile, will be concerned with the building of a second railway-track on the Bari-Barletta line which, despite funding being pledged by the EU, has been put off for some time. The Financial Guard will then determine whether there has been foul play within Ferrotramviaria’s administrative body or whether, as Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Graziano Delrio claims, the delay was down to the European Union’s lengthy bureaucratic procedures. 

 The Italian railroad police, who gathered up the evidence on the night of the disaster, will begin the investigation by going through the telephone recordings and signals sent between the two station masters. 

 lej