Viareggia disaster

Press Release adds to the confusion

Video by rabendeviaregia

PKP CARGO press release

Explosion of a railway

tank wagon in Italy

Further to information published by the Italian media, that the supposed cause of the explosion in a train of LPG wagons on 30 June in Viareggio in Italy was a fault in a Polish tank wagon, PKP CARGO wishes to explain:

1. The tank wagon which was at the head of the train and which is alleged to have originated in Poland belongs to a private foreign company.

2. In November 2003, shortly after the wagon was received from its manufacturers, the wagon was taken into PKP stock and marked accordingly at the express request of the owner as PKP were at the time the only entity dispatching goods wagons on international journeys on the territory of Poland.

3. The tank wagon under discussion left Poland in December 2003 and since then has worked exclusively overseas.

In the light of the disaster PKP CARGO extends its deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of those who tragically perished as a result of the explosion.

Further information:
Jacek Wnukowski
Press Spokesman PKP CARGO S.A.
tel. 22 47 42 703
e-mail: r.wnukowski@pkp-cargo.p

Translation of Polish original by BTWT. Are you any clearer who was responsible for operating and maintaining the wagon? Neither are we.