Italy relied on antiquated system of train traffic control

News reports say the Italian railway system depends on a 19th Century procedure to keep trains from colliding on the stretch of single track where 23 people died yesterday. The accident occurred near the southern City of Bari. There is no automatic system to stop or even alert trains that they might on the same track. Instead, say officials, engineers relied upon the station master to phone ahead to tell other station masters to tell other engineers that a train was leaving. Red Cross workers on Wednesday were shuttling family members to the morgue in Bari, the regional capital, to help identify the dead. Coroner Franco Introna told the ANSA news agency that 22 bodies were at the morgue, with a 23rd expected to arrive later from Andria.