1 killed in train-car collision at level crossing in Turku

A driver died when his automobile collided with an intercity train in Turku, Finland on Monday morning, media reported.

The accident took place on a level crossing when the security barriers were in the do-not-enter position. The train had just begun its journey from Turku to Helsinki when it happened.

Passengers said they heard a huge bang. The vehicle was cut into two pieces.

The police confirmed the fatality but did not say further about the cause of the accident. No injuries were reported on the train.

Collisions on railroad level crossings are fairly common in Finland especially at places where there are no alarms or barriers. But the Helsinki-Turku track is a high-speed section where the level crossings for motorists have security barriers.

The railroad company VR confirmed that the security barriers had been closed. The front of the train suffered only limited damage and was able to remain in service. The track was closed for over an hour, and normal train services resumed later.

Earlier on October 26, 2017, four people including three military personnel were killed in an accident that took place at the Raseborg level crossing when a train collided with a military vehicle near the town of Tammisaari, some 100km west of Helsinki, at a level crossing. The passenger train was commuting between Karjaa and the port Town of Hanko.

Although the human casualties in the accident shocked the whole society and raised questions about the safety of the travellers, such accident is not new in Finland. According to the Finnish Transport Agency, at least 27 people have been killed in level crossing accidents in the country since 2013 and all of them took place at crossings where there was no signal light or warning for vehicles about train movement. The agency also said that most of the level crossings, 2102 out of the total 2,778, in the country have no signal light.