Analysis of the sequence of events after railway accidents

Railway accident investigations in Italy are carried out by several institutions, with different goals. Railway Police, a specialization of State Police, is the crime investigation department responsible for the surveys that must be done immediately after an accident. After defining the field of operation and the limitations of each of the subjects involved in the aftermath of a railway accident, this paper describes the experiences of the authors that were involved in a number of railway accidents that recently occurred in Italy. One of the weak points that were found in these cases was the limitation of Railway Police officers to take autonomous decisions without waiting for other subject’s involvement, even in those cases where the root cause of the accident was absolutely evident. This limitation may be overcome by a specific teaching programme that allows Railway Police operators to fully understand the evidences that in some cases clearly emerge from the survey conducted after the accident. Such a programme, when properly structured (for example by using the European Standards in force for the normalization of rail components) and surveyed, could bring substantial benefits - saving both time and cost. While the first item is getting more and more critical for the modern railway infrastructure which is certainly more trafficked that in the past, the second could result from a noticeable simplification of investigations when there are no doubts on the causes of an accident. To such goal, the institution of a dedicated register of specialists is proposed to be set up, suitably trained with the procedures to be applied just after the accident.