German Experts to Investigate Turkish Train Crash

A team from Germany arrived in northwestern Turkey on Sunday to examine the site of an express train derailment that killed 37 people and injured 81 last week. The accident was among the worst in the country's history. Critics blame the government which pushed for the rail project, despite safety concerns over the aging tracks. Three rail engineers from Germany's railroad authority visited the site as part of an independent investigation designed to find the cause for the derailment which occurred most likely because the train on the heavily-traveled Istanbul-Ankara track surpassed the speed limit. Although Turkey has invited experts from other countries to take part in the investigation, no others have arrived yet. Germany has a special connection to the Turkish rail system, as many of the tracks date back to the 19th century, when the then-German monarchy helped build them for the Ottoman empire.