Revenge Gone Wrong: Bulgarian Railways Employee Arrested for Cutting Train Brakes in Lom

A driver who cut the locomotive brakes at Lom Station has been identified and arrested, though the investigation continues. After a 24-hour detention under the Ministry of Internal Affairs Law, he was released as he was deemed unlikely to flee. Pre-trial proceedings are ongoing.

Despite the lack of cameras in the area, investigators tracked down the 49-year-old man who has been a long-time employee of "Bulgarian State Railways" (BDZ) and had even been awarded for his work. He confessed, including before a judge, driven by personal motives stemming from an internal work conflict with colleagues.

The supervising prosecutor, Oleg Dimitrov, explained that the man acted out of a desire for revenge, believing he wouldn't be caught. He had cunningly broken the glass to suggest vandalism.

Charged under Article 340, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code for damaging rolling stock, the driver faces 5 to 15 years of imprisonment. Although the property damage amounted to about BGN 5,000, the greater risk was to railway transport safety. Engineer Elenko Kirkov noted that the cut hoses left the locomotive without brakes, turning it into an uncontrollable 87-ton machine. If it had been hooked to carriages, the incident could have been far more catastrophic.