RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Europes rail industry is under scrutiny after a terrible crash this week in Belgium. Two commuter trains slammed into each other, killing 18 people. The black boxes from the trains have now been located and investigators are trying to discover what happened.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Teri Schultz has more from Brussels.</s>TERI SCHULTZ: All public transportation in Brussels will stop for a moment of silence today to honor the dead. That moment will contrast dramatically with the din of debate over why one engine had an automatic braking system and the other didnt, despite a 2005 decision that all Belgian trains should be equipped with that technology. The controversy flared when the managing director of the Belgian railway infrastructure, Luc Lallemand, was asked whether the accident could have been avoided if both engines had the system.</s>Mr. LUC LALLEMAND (Belgian Railway Director): Oui.</s>TERI SCHULTZ: While many people blasted the Belgian Rail Authority, its director blamed the European Union for being slow to come up with common international standards, which he said caused the delay in Belgians own upgrades. E.U. inland transport director Enrico Grillo Pasquarelli rejects those accusations. Pasquarelli notes member states always have the right to go beyond E.U. regulations.</s>TERI SCHULTZ: Those currently require only high speed international trains to have the latest safety technology to deal with the 20 different incompatible systems in operation throughout the 27 E.U. states. More extensive coordination can only be expected progressively, Pasquarelli says.</s>Mr. ENRICO GRILLO PASQUARELLI (Director, E.U. Inland Transport): And progressively in railway terms means that it takes time, it takes money, and it takes a lot of effort and organization.</s>TERI SCHULTZ: The new technology costs more than $270,000 per engine and $205,000 per kilometer of track, but here in Belgium a traumatized public insists its the price paid for not having a system thats unacceptable.</s>TERI SCHULTZ: For NPR News, Im Teri Schultz in Brussels.
While many people blasted the Belgian rail authority for the crash, its director blamed the European Union for being slow to come up with common international standards. Current EU standards require only high-speed international trains to have the latest safety technology to deal with the 20 different systems in operation throughout the 27 EU states.