Scores injured as Amsterdam trains collide

Two passenger trains have collided head-on near an Amsterdam park, injuring scores of people including more than 40 seriously, a police spokesman has said.

About 42 people were seriously injured in the crash on Saturday evening between a double-decker intercity train and a commuter train, Eberhard van der Laan, the Amsterdam Mayor, said on Sunday.

Many passengers suffered broken bones and neck injuries with about 70 travelers escaping with minor injuries.

Dutch railway officials said on Sunday that rail traffic around Amsterdam would be disrupted throughout the morning as the two damaged trains remained on the tracks where they collided.

Bus services were being laid on to try to get passengers to their destinations.

An investigation is under way into the cause of the accident. Two separate investigations will focus on whether human error or a mechanical fault led to the two trains winding up on collision course.

The accident happened at around 6.30pm local time [16:30 GMT] when a local train leaving Amsterdam hit a high-speed train, Babet Verstappen, the Dutch rail network Prorail spokeswoman, told AFP news agency.

Emergency personnel treated some of the wounded at the scene, on a bridge between Sloterdijk and Amsterdam Central Station, he said.

Pictures from the scene showed the crushed front ends of both the trains and smashed windows in some of the carriages.

“Some of the injured had to be rescued from inside the train,” Elke van den Hout, Amsterdam fire service spokeswoman, said.

The Netherlands’ worst train disaster happened on January 8, 1962, when two passenger trains smashed into one another at Harmelen, near the central Dutch city of Utrecht, killing 93 and injuring 52 others.