Judge links Mexico Metro driver involved in train crash to trial

At the beginning of January, two Line 3 carriages collided, causing the death of a young woman and injuring dozens of others.

A control judge from Mexico City linked to the process the driver of the Line 3 Metro, involved in the train crash on January 7.

In the opinion of the capital’s authority, there are sufficient elements to try Carlos ‘N’ for the crimes of homicide and culpable injuries, after the accident a young woman died and 106 people were injured.

Among the injured is the driver himself, who was unable to participate in person at the hearing this Wednesday as he continues to be treated at the hospital.

What is the driver accused of?

The investigation of the Prosecutor’s Office of the capital indicates that it is probable that Carlos ‘N’ did not adhere to the guidelines established in the technical manuals of the Metro, and that he exceeded the allowed speed limit.

It also indicates that the accused changed to automatic driving during the march of the train —although it is prohibited for security reasons— and that he did not notify the Central Control Post of the change.

“Besides that did not perform any maneuver to stop the train and avoid the fact”, affirms the Prosecutor’s Office.

Based on the test data provided by the Public Ministry, the judge decided to maintain the precautionary measure of home protection against Carlos ‘N’ and gave the Prosecutor’s Office six months to conclude the complementary investigation.

The Prosecutor’s Office also requested the driver to pay 260 million pesos (14 million dollars) as repair of the damage to the Metro and 125,000 pesos ($6,740) for the injured, according to indicated the defense lawyers leaving the hearing.

Controversy over the case against the driver

According to journalistic versions, prior to the hearing this Wednesday, the deceased victim’s lawyer asked the control judge declare null and void the process against Carlos ‘N’ and criticized that in the criminal proceedings for the accident, the Metro Collective Transport System has not assumed its responsibility and is not being investigated for the lack of maintenance of the facilities.

“Now it turns out that the Metro is a victimhe is sitting next to us, the defenders of the young woman who died, Mr. Carlos is in a hospital bed, he is following his hearing by videoconference, he is tired, he does not seem to be in much spirit,” the lawyer reproached.

What happened in the Metro?

On January 7, two trains on Line 3 of the Mexico City Metro collided at the intersection of the Potrero and La Raza stationsleaving as a result one person dead and more than one hundred injured.

Since then other accidents have been reported in the subway, which have been described by the authority as “out of the ordinary” episodesso it was decided that more than 6,000 members of the National Guard will begin to protect the Metro from January 12.

A few days ago, the authority reported that in addition to the alleged negligence committed by the driver, the accident could have resulted from the intentional burning and cutting of cables in two records of connection, communications, signaling and automatic piloting at the Potrero station. Although the person or group responsible for the damage has yet to be found.