Freight train driver killed in Netherlands crash

A multiple train collision south of Rotterdam left one driver dead and caused traffic chaos.

Two freight trains were involved in a head-on collision on Thursday evening. A derailed section landed on a parallel track, where the international passenger train to Brussels was approaching. Its driver spotted the accident just in time to slow down and minimise the impact. A couple of the 150 passengers were slightly injured. The viaduct was damaged by waggons piling up under it.

Pieter van Vollenhoven of the Dutch Safety Board said an investigation was under way into the cause of the accident. He said the accident "could have been much worse" if the passenger train driver had not managed to stop so fast.

The area was quickly evacuated after the pile-up, because it was feared the freight trains transported inflammable liquids. This later turned out not to be the case. The A15 motorway remained closed until the morning rush hour and rail traffic south of Rotterdam remains suspended while the wreckage is cleared.

The mayor of the town of Barendrecht, on whose territory the crash happened, said it confirmed that his town is in a danger zone. The area is crisscrossed by regular and highspeed rail lines and motorways, and is home to a large part of the Netherlands' petrochemical industry.