Overview
- Local police say the driver’s call with a colleague lasted 3 minutes 40 seconds and may have ended about 12 seconds before the 27 February crash that killed two and injured more than 50.
- Investigators’ reconstruction indicates the tram skipped a stop, failed to actuate the track switch and entered the curve at nearly 50 km/h, about 15 km/h over typical speed, with no automatic emergency braking reported.
- The driver, 60-year-old Pietro Montemurro, is under investigation for railway disaster, homicide and negligent injury, as prosecutors examine potential individual and systemic failures.
- Defense lawyers dispute the timing and cite technical data suggesting the call ended at least about 90 seconds earlier, maintaining the driver suffered a vasovagal syncope after a recent toe injury.
- Prosecutors and police have ordered ATM to produce service, training and health-surveillance records, maintenance logs and internal rules on phone use, while ATM reiterates that using a mobile while driving is a very serious violation.