Repair of the railway line passing through Voorschoten in the Netherlands is still ongoing. A deadly train accident occurred on this line on 4 April. The repair work is taking longer than expected, says infrastructure manager ProRail.

A total of three kilometres of new overhead lines must be placed on the track, ProRail explains. Apart from that there is damage to the rails, sleepers and safety systems. Dutch company Mammoet has been working on the repair since Wednesday 12 April. It is not clear whether the works can be completed this week.

“Now that we have been able to fully map the damage, we see that there is more broken. That’s why we need more time and staff. The shortage of specialist overhead line personnel plays a role in this”, the infrastructure manager says.

Accident

In the morning of 4 April, a freight train of DB Cargo ran into a crane that was placed on the track. As a consequence, a passenger train ran into the debris of the crane and derailed. The accident caused the death of the crane driver and injuries to around 20 people.

According to ProRail, the construction crane of the company BAM was on the tracks earlier than agreed. In other words, the crane was on the track while trains were still running. Criminal investigations are still ongoing to determine how this could have happened.