Soviet Trains Collide While Driver Naps

MOSCOW —  Two passenger trains collided in the dark after the engineer of one train decided to take a nap and his drowsy assistant missed a red stop light, reports said today. The collision apparently caused many deaths and injuries.

The collision occurred at 3:02 a.m. last Thursday outside Kirovograd, a town about 150 miles southeast of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, the government newspaper Izvestia said.

Izvestia and the official press agency Tass said there were dead and injured but did not give numbers.

Hundreds of doctors and nurses were called in to help and streams of ambulances went to the crash site from neighboring towns and cities, the newspaper said.

The reports did not say how many people were aboard the trains. The crash occurred on the eve of the Revolution Day holiday weekend, a time when the trains probably were full.

Izvestia said an official investigation revealed a pattern of “indiscipline and criminal negligence” at the Ukrainian railway depot where the engineer and his assistant were employed.

The report clearly was part of the Kremlin’s drive to use the press more effectively in its campaign for discipline and efficiency.

In recent months, the Soviets have been reporting domestic disasters more quickly and in greater detail than before. But the delay in issuing this report and the lack of information on casualties suggest a lingering sensitivity about domestic accidents.

Trains Behind Schedule

The two trains, one southbound and one northbound, were behind schedule when the collision occurred near Koristovka station outside Kirovograd, Izvestia said.

The southbound train was traveling at 24 m.p.h. and the northbound train at 18 m.p.h. when they collided, the newspaper said.

“It turned out that on the approach to the station, no one was driving this (northbound) train,” Izvestia said. “Engineer Galushchenko decided to take a nap and handed over the train to his assistant, who also couldn’t stay awake.”

“In his half-sleep, he didn’t even notice the red stop light . . . and the completely uncontrolled train swept onto the station track,” the newspaper said.