Russia"s luxurious high-speed passenger...
"The deaths occurred when people were crossing rails outside authorized [pedestrian] crossings and failed to hear the silent Sapsan in time," Gazeta quoted the head of the ministry"s department in charge of transportation safety, Alexander Brevnov as saying.
Sapsan, built for Russia by German engineering giant Siemens, began its service on December 17, 2009. It covers the distance between Russia"s two largest cities in a record time of 3 hours and 45 minutes.
"Unfortunately, people very often violate railway safety and pedestrian crossing rules," Gazeta quoted Oktyabrskaya railway spokeswoman, Yulia Mineyeva, as saying.
"The trains are very fast. A person crossing the track on a green light reaches the middle of the tracks when the light suddenly turns red because the high-speed Sapsan is approaching," Russian weekly magazine Ogonyok on April 5 quoted a Russian retiree as saying. "Imagine a woman with a baby or a person with a heavy bag crossing the tracks..."