Rolling stock derailed at Moskovka railway station in Russia's Omsk Region on the evening of November 1, prompting an official inquiry by federal transport investigators.
The derailment happened while a locomotive was carrying out shunting operations at the station, the Eastern Interregional Investigation Department for Transport of the Investigative Committee of Russia told Lenta.ru.
Although the rolling stock came off the rails during the manoeuvre, the train did not overturn, according to the transport investigation department.
Investigators are working to establish the exact circumstances of the incident and the extent of the damage. Officials are conducting an inquiry into potential violations of traffic safety and railway transport operation rules under Article 263 of the Russian Criminal Code.
Russian railway safety inquiry
Article 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation governs offences involving the safety of movement and operation across railway, air, sea and inland water transport. Under Russian procedure, a pre-investigation inquiry examines the circumstances and material damage of an incident to determine whether a criminal offence took place.
The Eastern Interregional Investigation Department for Transport is a specialised directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia, the country's main federal investigating authority. Lenta.ru, which published the department's account on November 2, is a Moscow-based Russian online news outlet. The publication also noted an earlier incident in which a train driver brought an undocumented migrant into Russia in a freight wagon and deceived border guards.
Shunting operations in Omsk Region
Shunting is the railway process of moving and sorting locomotives, carriages and wagons between tracks inside a station or rail yard to assemble, break up or position trains. Omsk Region is a federal subject in southwestern Siberia crossed by the Trans-Siberian Railway, which connects European Russia with Siberia and the Russian Far East.
Investigators in Omsk Region are continuing to examine the circumstances of the Moskovka station derailment as railway and law enforcement officials calculate the resulting damage.
