The thing that struck me was the government officials saying that the person(s) responsible would be found and punished -- rather than emphasizing finding the cause and trying to ensure this does not happen again in the future.

All railroad safety systems need some type of manual override, in case of failure of the system -- though we don't know if this was involved here. Such a manual override (including verbal authority from a dispatcher to pass a stop signal) should be used only in specified circumstances -- and following specific safety protocols.

A few years ago, there was an incident on a single-track German branch line where two EMUs collide head-on on a blind curve, with substantial casualties. Investigation showed that when when the local dispatcher tried to clear a signal for the departure of one of the trains, the signal would not clear. Instead of trying to determine why the system would not clear the signal -- in fact caused by an opposing train having been cleared to depart the next station, he overrode the system and let the train depart anyway. He was sentenced to prison for willful neglect and causing deaths and injuries. There was also a finding that he had been distracted by non-work-related activities (on his personal phone) while on duty.

The dispatcher was so used to the trains meeting at a different location (according to schedule) that he was apparently unwilling to consider that a schedule disruption had put one of the trains off schedule and that the meet would have to take place at a different location. One of the findings was that there needed to be additional training of these dispatchers never to assume that what had happened previously would be applicable on any given day.

Yes, if someone was negligent, they should be held responsible. But, always, the more important factor should be why the accident happened and what can be changed to prevent it from happening again.