Locomotives on Sunday towed away two trains involved in a head-on collision in Amsterdam that seriously wounded 42 people -- an incident a top rail official described as one of the worst train crashes in the Netherlands' recent history.
"Two trains colliding on the same track is a nightmare," Bert Meerstadt, director of national railroad operator NS, told reporters as the vehicles were towed and technicians began studying the tracks for damage.
The Saturday evening crash in Amsterdam involved a double-decker intercity train and a commuter train.
Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan said 42 people were seriously injured. Dozens more passengers sustained minor injuries.
Meerstadt declined to speculate on what caused the collision. He said crash investigators would study black box recorders on both trains.
"On the basis of the first results of the investigation of the transport inspection service, it appears that the (train) passed a stop signal," said Dutch infrastructure minister Schultz van Haegen in a letter to parliament.
"A deeper investigation should determine if this can be confirmed in a definitive manner," he wrote in the letter to the lower chamber.
The accident happened at around 6:30 pm (1630 GMT) Saturday when a local train leaving Amsterdam hit a high-speed train on a bridge west of Amsterdam's central station.
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