Rail crash suspects stand trial tomorrow

EIGHT Egyptian rail workers will go on trial on charges of negligence in a deadly train crash last month, that prompted the resignation of the Transport Minister, tomorrow, a judicial official said yesterday."The Ayyat rail accident trial will start on Monday (tomorrow),” Giza's Chief Prosecutor Hamada el-Sawy said.He added that eight people, including the two train conductors and three signalmen as well as the driver of the train would stand trial. "The suspects have been charged with causing the death of 19 people due to negligence," the official added.A passenger train ploughed at full speed into the back of another train late October, killing 18 people, after a signalman left work early and failed to warn drivers of delays because of a water buffalo on the track. The investigation carried out by the Prosecutor's office determined that the conductor of the first train had also waited 20 minutes before alerting rail authorities that he had made an unscheduled halt.The crash forced Transport Minister Mohamed Mansour to step down - the second person to quit from the post since a deadly train crash in 2002 that killed 361 people.The Egyptian rail network has a long history of