quickly needed when the extent of the accident became clear. Luckily many of the rescue workers had been involved in a large scale accident less than two years earlier during the 1996 Neste 1000 Lakes Rally (renamed the following year as Rally Finland), when one spectator was killed and 32 injured when a rally car hit a group of spectators during the Harju special stage. Lifting equipment was needed, as many passengers were trapped under overturned carriages; three people were saved from under the cars with air cushions. Causes The investigation of the accident was slow at first and included reconstructions of the accident. The causes became clearer after a few days when the black box of the train was deciphered and the surviving engineer had recovered enough to be heard. The main cause of the accident was blamed on human error when interpreting signals. The Finnish signalling system at that time was still less than ten years old. It contained a number signal as a complement to the expect 35 or proceed 35 aspects to allow higher speeds, such as . The signals at Jyväskylä were showing expect 35 and proceed 35; with the number signal they were able to show the signals expect 80 and proceed 80 respectively for trains directed on track 1. According to the data recovered from the train and subsequent braking tests, it seems that the driver had misinterpreted the signals and arrived at Jyväskylä, fully expecting to enter track 1 at a speed of , and, realising what had happened, applied emergency braking just before the fateful switch. The accident also showed problems in VR's management. The company had not upgraded safety instructions and the notes handed to the drivers were not easily readable. The accident investigation board interviewed 100 railway engineers, 70 of which answered, during the investigation. Almost 30% of them had mixed up number signals and over half had seen unsafe incidents during the past year. The fireman driving the train was tired as he had finished his previous shift at 06:05 in the morning and had not slept well at the provided facilities at Tampere. Additionally, the engineer had begun brewing coffee just before arriving at Jyväskylä. He was then unable to warn his colleague about the overspeed before it was too late. Aftermath This accident, following the Jokela rail accident two years before, showed the importance of the