Doh!

Concrete pillar hits Moscow metro train, none hurt
From:Reuters
Sunday, 19 March, 2006

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Workmen digging a hole above a Moscow underground train line drove a concrete pillar into the roof of a moving train, Russian officials said on Sunday.

No one on the train was hurt. A fire broke out after the impact but all passengers were evacuated, said Emergencies Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov.

Prosecutors said they had begun a criminal investigation into suspected violations of the building safety code, the Interfax news agency reported.

"Preliminary information is that some company was putting up an advertising billboard above the underground line and they did not have the necessary permission," Interfax quoted an unidentified official from the prosecutor's office as saying.

"(The train driver) saw a concrete pillar coming through the tunnel roof, and he started emergency braking."

"It was not possible to avoid a crash. The pillar hit the right hand side of the first carriage and then basically lodged itself in the roof of the third carriage," Interfax quoted the official as saying.

The accident took place on the Zamoskvoretskaya line, about six km (four miles) north of Moscow's city centre. The train was heading south between the Voikovskaya and Sokol stations, officials said.

Train services on the line were suspended. Services were expected to be back to normal by Monday morning, network managers said.

Moscow's underground system is used heavily. There are fewer passengers at weekends but there are still usually at least a dozen people in each carriage.

Moscow is in the grip of a building boom but safety standards can be shoddy.

Construction companies often cut corners while some regulatory officials are corrupt and turn a blind eye to safety violations, opposition politicians say.