Excessive speed caused Iran train accident

Excessive speed was the major factor in the train accident in northeastern Iran that killed at least seven people, a member of an investigation team says.

“Preliminary investigations suggest that excessive speed before and after entering the railway station had caused the derailment of the Mashhad Tehran train,” Qazanfar Fouladi told reporters on Sunday.

The train with 50 passengers aboard left the tracks at around 10 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) in Joghatay town, located in Iran’s northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi. In addition to the dead twenty two people had also sustained injuries.

In 2004, a train loaded with chemicals and fertilizer exploded along the same route, killing at least 300 residents.

Iran’s rail network has nearly 10,000 kilometers of track linking the capital of Tehran with the country’s other main cities.