Ill-omened Russian passenger train may not survive next time

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Nevsky Express passenger train. (Picture by Antiteror.ru)

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uploaded by Aris Jansons

NowPublic already reported today that several carriages came off the tracks as an express passenger train was en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg in Russia.

The President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev has charged to the Federal Security Service (FSB) chairman Army General Alexander Bortnikov, Prosecutor General Yury Chaika and Extraordinary Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu to clear out circumstances of the crash, online paper Newsru reported, referring to the Kremlin press service.

It is also reported that the head of the Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, reported to President Medvedev on the incident in Tver area. The reason for the derailment is not yet clear. The Russian President has instructed the Federal Security Service head and the General Prosecutor to carry out all necessary investigatory actions and to provide thorough investigation of the reasons of the train crash, according to the press service.

Though the official news agency RIA Novosti reported that a power outrage might have caused the accident, state security agencies do not exclude an act of terrorism. It is worth mentioning that in 2007 a similar incident already occurred with the same Nevsky Express train. 27 people were injured then in the bomb last on the same line. Then it was recognized an act of terrorism and currently the trial has been going on concerning the case.

As far reports on the dead and injured in today's incident are inconsistent. If the passenger train crash has been an act of terrorism again, the question arises who has gained from it.

It would be wise if the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will decide to visit the site of the crash, as he has hold back in similar cases previously. In August 2000, he, the then President of Russia, got public reprimand for lack of prompt response when the Kursk nuclear submarine sunk in the worst disaster for the Russian Navy in which 118 crew members were killed.