A court on Monday ordered 15 people to stand trial for a July 2013 bus crash in the southern Campania region that killed 40 people.
The defendants are charged with manslaughter over the accident in which the bus ploughed through a viaduct guardrail and plunged 30 metres into a ravine 30 metres below in Monteforte Irpino.
Prosecutors allege brake failure and worn-out bolts on the viaduct guardrail caused the disaster, the worst accident of its kind in Western Europe for a decade.
Among those in the dock are two officials from Italy's vehicle licensing agency accused of falsifying the bus's annual safety test, two directors and ten officials and technicians from Italy's highway company Autostrade.
The first trial hearing is scheduled for 28 September.
