Italian railway workers began a general two-hour strike at noon, which was declared by the leading trade unions after the accident of a high-speed train near the city of Lodi in the north of the country.
The strike is a sign of “respect for human life” and solidarity with the families of the two railway workers killed in the accident. It is attended by representatives of all companies in the industry, working both at the national and local levels. In announcing the action, union leaders stressed “the extreme seriousness of the incident”.
On Thursday morning the train “Red Arrow” (Frecciarossa), going from Milan to Salerno at a speed of 290 km per hour, went off the rails in the vicinity of Lodi. At the same time, the locomotive flew far beyond the railway tracks, and one wagon turned over. Two train drivers were killed in the accident, 31 people were injured. Rail traffic on this section of the track has been suspended so far. The accident near Lodi was the first accident with human casualties on a high-speed railway line in Italy.
Lodi’s Attorney’s Office opened a case of death. The national company “Italian Railway Network” (Rfi) began a departmental investigation of all the circumstances that led to the emergency. According to the information from the investigating authorities, the main possible cause of the accident is now considered a malfunction of the railway arrow, which caused the train to leave the main track.
On Thursday, Italian President Sergio Mattarella expressed condolences on the death of two railway workers, stressing that they died in the workplace. The head of state urged to quickly find out the reasons for the incident in order to ensure the right of citizens to transport safety.