Finland Times

The investigation will include situations whereby, for one reason or another, a train does not end up on the right track.

According to the authority, based on the preliminary data, about a hundred such cases took place last year.

The number seems to have risen from previous year.

However, Värttiö did not want to speculate what could be the reasons behind the errors.

“I am not going to respond to that. We do not have such information yet, but we are trying to obtain (information) through an inquiry,” said Värttiö.

The most serious problems related to rail traffic safety involves level-crossing accidents and dangerous situations which occur on the tracks.

Generally speaking, rail safety in Finland is averagely on a good level in the EU.

Värttiö pointed out that, according to EU statistics, the most problematic countries are Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Estonia, whereas the safest ones are Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

In Europe, about 2,000 railway accidents characterised as significant happen annually.

Over a thousand people are killed and as many people are injured in the accidents.

Nearly 90 per cent of railway accidents result from people being run over by trains and level-crossing accidents. This figure does not include suicidal incidents.