Railway Herald
Ten months after this image was taken on 13th March 2024 at Voluyak, PIMK Rail 07-063 would be involved in a serious accident just north of the capital City of Sofia. Tucked inside fellow company SIEMENS Smartron No. 80-013 the pair were at the head of an eastbound intermodal service from Bozhurishte to Burgas when they were involved in a head-on collision at Lokorsko on 15th January 2025. Occupying the same single-line section of track in the opposite direction were a pair of BDZ Class 55 diesels, 55-155 and 55-093 with a Serbian-bound scrap metal working. The leading Class 55 was all but completely destroyed taking the lives of the two occupants with the second loco coming to rest on it's side some distance from the track. Six others survived the crash, all hospitalised, two in a serious condition. Although the Smartron suffered serious front-end damage it is unclear how much damage 07-063 received but from a grainy news reel image the damage looked to be substantial. PIMK Rail soon released a statement saying that their driver had the green and been given the road towards Kremikovtsi. This gave rise to much speculation as to who was to blame with several resignations and one sacking taking place in the days that followed. The investigation is on-going but it is expected that human error at some level will be the root cause of this unfortunate accident that occurred on an ageing railway system.
Stephen Ginn
