Trains always halted for rail work says network chief

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 5 - Trains are always halted for rail work, Italy's network chief told two Lower House committees Tuesday after last week's accident in which a train killed five maintenance workers at Brandizzo near Turin.
    "The start of work is absolutely conditional on obtaining written authorisation to stop train traffic," said the CEO of the Italian rail network (RFI), Gianpiero Strisciuglio, at a hearing before the Transport and Labour Committees of the Lower House on safety and the Brandizzo accident.
    Track-occupation works are "always carried out in the absence of train circulation and in any case performed at a pre-established time interval that must be formally authorised in writing by the train circulation operator to the person requesting the interruption", he said. (ANSA).