美国国家公共电台 NPR--Was neglect and poor maintenance behind a deadly train collision in Greece?

Was neglect and poor maintenance behind a deadly train collision in Greece?

Transcript¹

A railroad union in Greece says it warned about system conditions before two trains collided. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to journalist Lydia Emmanouilidou about the country's worst rail disaster.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A railroad union says it warned operators about poor maintenance, chronic² understaffing and faulty automation before two trains collided in the worst rail accident Greece has ever seen. Death toll³ is now up to at least 43 after a passenger train and a freight train wound up on the same tracks, barreling toward each other at a combined speed of 100 mph. Independent journalist Lydia Emmanouilidou is with us this morning from Athens. Welcome to the program.

LYDIA EMMANOUILIDOU: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: So what are you hearing from family members of people who were on that passenger train?

EMMANOUILIDOU: Well, many family members are still trying to figure out exactly where their loved ones are. You know, we know that there are 44 - at least 44 people who died. Only 11 of those people have been identified so far, and that's partly because - you know, I'm sure you've heard descriptions of the collision.

INSKEEP: Yeah.

EMMANOUILIDOU: This was a high-speed collision. Temperatures in some of the front wagons⁴ reached more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit⁵. And so the wagons disintegrated⁶, and so did some of the - you know, some of the people inside them. It's really hard to identify them. And so family members have been going from hospital to hospital. Some are going to the collision site. You know, of course, they're very desperate to find their loved ones. And right now, they are - some people who haven't yet found their loved ones who are still missing, unaccounted for, they're giving DNA⁷ samples in the hope that, you know, there will be a match. And from what we understand, some of those determinations will be made today. And, of course, that's a phone call that nobody wants to get to find out that, you know, there's been a DNA match with a person who's dead.

INSKEEP: That's got to be worse than knowing the awful truth. And I want to note something else. I said in our introduction at least 43 were dead. You gave us an updated number of at least 44, which just underlines that we don't really even know the full toll here, do we?

EMMANOUILIDOU: That's exactly right. Yeah.

INSKEEP: Now, let's talk about what may have happened. And we should underline, it's early. It can take months, it can take years to figure out what truly, truly caused a collision of this kind. However, authorities have arrested a station manager on the railroad. What was this person's job?

EMMANOUILIDOU: Yeah. So this person's job and where the mistake seems to have happened is that they were supposed to switch the track line and to give the go-ahead to the passenger train to go. So let me just back up for a second and say that one thing that we do know at this point is that the two trains that collided, they were traveling on the same track towards each other for several minutes before the crash, even though this was a double-track line. And so how does this happen? According to the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who gave a statement yesterday, this was partly because of human error, partly because of the rail manager's mistake.

But, you know, of course, railway worker unions have been saying for years that actually there are much bigger issues. This cannot just be pinned to a single person's human error, that the system has been in a dire⁸ state. There's outdated⁹ equipment, staffing shortages. And this is partly because of the privatization that we've seen over the past few years.

INSKEEP: Yeah, mistakes happen, but the several minutes after the mistake is the horrifying¹⁰ part, when no one caught it, or at least no one caught it in time.

EMMANOUILIDOU: Right.

INSKEEP: Lydia, thanks so much.

EMMANOUILIDOU: Thank you for having me.

INSKEEP: That's journalist Lydia Emmanouilidou in Athens.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

3 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

4 wagons   

n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车

参考例句：

• The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
• They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。

5 Fahrenheit   

n./adj.华氏温度；华氏温度计(的)

参考例句：

• He was asked for the boiling point of water in Fahrenheit.他被问到水的沸点是华氏多少度。
• The thermometer reads 80 degrees Fahrenheit.寒暑表指出华氏80度。

6 disintegrated   

v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The plane disintegrated as it fell into the sea. 飞机坠入大海时解体了。
• The box was so old;it just disintegrated when I picked it up. 那箱子太破旧了，我刚一提就散了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

8 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

9 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

10 horrifying   

a.令人震惊的，使人毛骨悚然的

参考例句：

• He went to great pains to show how horrifying the war was. 他极力指出战争是多么的恐怖。
• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate. 战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。