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Train drivers sound horns for dead colleague

Morven McLean
Morven McLean - [email protected]
Train drivers sound horns for dead colleague
The driver of the regional express train was killed. Photo:AFP

At 2pm on Friday train drivers across the country sounded their horns in remembrance of their 24-year-old colleague who died in Monday’s collision of two trains.

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The gesture, organised by the railway personnel association SEV, came as family and friends of the French train driver gathered for his funeral in France, the Swiss news agency SDA reported.

The driver was the only person killed in Monday’s head-on collision of two trains at Granges-pres-Marnand in the canton of Vaud. Twenty-five people were injured.

He had just recently qualified as a driver.

Several hundred train drivers are believed to have joined in the gesture of solidarity. At Zurich train station passengers spontaneously applauded, the 20 Minuten website reported.

“All the drivers who couldn’t personally attend the funeral were able to express their sympathy to the family through this act,” said Urs Mächler, central president of the SEV.

The private family funeral close to Geneva was attended by 50 representatives of the federal railway company SBB, including CEO Andreas Meyer, the website said.

The accident happened on Monday evening as two SBB operated trains collided on a single stretch of line between Payerne and Moudon.

Investigations are underway into the cause of one of Switzerland’s worst railway accidents. It’s believed the train driver who survived had jumped a red light.

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