SAFETY IS OF THE FIRST IMPORTANCE. Railroaders use the term "cornfield meet" to describe the consequences of a train crew misunderstanding, or ignoring, orders or signals such that trains encounter each other where they're not supposed to. The term is a form of railroad gallows humor, as the consequences are anything but pretty.

One commuter train ignored a stop signal and slammed into another Monday, killing at least 58 people and injuring more than 140, authorities said.

The crash took place about 7 a.m. at the edge of a cornfield outside the town of Qalyoub, 12 miles north of Cairo. The trains were carrying commuters from the towns of Mansoura and Benha.

The train from Mansoura was going at least 50 mph when it sped through the stop signal before a crossing, police officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give statements to the media. The signal was still blaring Monday afternoon.

I wish reporters would be more accurate about what the railroad's hardware does. As far as I know, the signal will be displaying a red aspect, but, as the block is occupied by two trains, at least one of which was NOT supposed to be there, that's not conclusive of anything. If there's an Egyptian counterpart to the National Transportation Safety Board, there will be a finding of causes of the collision, and perhaps recommendations for improvements. The fault may not be with the train crew or with the signals.

Egypt has a history of serious train accidents, usually blamed on poorly maintained equipment. Many of those incidents have occurred in the Nile Delta.

The train might have been going 50 mph because the engineer missed the signal (that has happened in prosperous Chicago) or because the braking malfunctioned (an express train went into the basement of Washington Union Station in early 1953) or because the signal was not displaying a restrictive aspect (that has also happened in the Chicago area.) The police are correct not to make any statements, because they'd be guessing. Let them do the emergency response work, and let the accident review assess the circumstances.