2006 Rome metro crash
Encyclopedia
The 2006 Rome Metro
crash occurred on October 17, 2006 at 9:37am local time (07:37 UTC), when one train ploughed in another train as it unloaded passengers at the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II
(or Vittorio Emanuele) underground station in the city centre, killing a 30-year-old Italian woman, named Alessandra Lisi, and injuring about 145 others, of which a dozen were reported to be in life-threatening conditions.
The whole Line A was immediately shut down and the area above the station, the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II
, was cordoned off by police as rescue workers erected a field hospital
, where dozens of people were treated. The injured were gradually transported to various Rome hospitals for further treatment, with the Complesso Ospedaliero San Giovanni - Addolorata, being the nearest, receiving most of them.
While no official cause of the accident has been released, officials have excluded terrorism as a cause for the incident. Several passengers have reported that the driver of the moving train failed to stop at a red signal and that the train had been running strangely at previous stations. A senior driver has disclosed that the moving train had previously had braking problems on a test drive.
A possible explanation of the accident may lie in a misunderstanding between the driver and the control centre, which would have authorized the train to proceed to the "next station", meaning a station closed to the public (Manzoni), the last before Vittorio Emanuele station, while the driver would have understood it to mean the next working station, that is, Vittorio Emanuele itself.
Rome Metro
The Rome Metro is an underground public transportation system that operates in Rome, Italy and opened in 1955. There are currently two metro lines, the A line and the B line . A third line, the green C line, and a new branch of the B line, are currently under construction. Plans have also been...
crash occurred on October 17, 2006 at 9:37am local time (07:37 UTC), when one train ploughed in another train as it unloaded passengers at the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II (Rome Metro)
Vittorio Emanuele is a station on Linea A of the Rome Metro. The station was inaugurated in 1980 and is sited underground, beneath Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, which gives it its name, in the Esquilino rione....
(or Vittorio Emanuele) underground station in the city centre, killing a 30-year-old Italian woman, named Alessandra Lisi, and injuring about 145 others, of which a dozen were reported to be in life-threatening conditions.
The whole Line A was immediately shut down and the area above the station, the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II (Rome)
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, also known as Piazza Vittorio, is a piazza in Rome, in the Esquilino rione. It is served by the Vittorio Emanuele Metro station....
, was cordoned off by police as rescue workers erected a field hospital
Field hospital
A field hospital is a large mobile medical unit that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities...
, where dozens of people were treated. The injured were gradually transported to various Rome hospitals for further treatment, with the Complesso Ospedaliero San Giovanni - Addolorata, being the nearest, receiving most of them.
While no official cause of the accident has been released, officials have excluded terrorism as a cause for the incident. Several passengers have reported that the driver of the moving train failed to stop at a red signal and that the train had been running strangely at previous stations. A senior driver has disclosed that the moving train had previously had braking problems on a test drive.
A possible explanation of the accident may lie in a misunderstanding between the driver and the control centre, which would have authorized the train to proceed to the "next station", meaning a station closed to the public (Manzoni), the last before Vittorio Emanuele station, while the driver would have understood it to mean the next working station, that is, Vittorio Emanuele itself.