Mauro Moretti, the former head of Italian railways, was Tuesday among a string of executives convicted over a 2009 freight train disaster that killed 29 people.

Moretti, currently boss of engineering giant Leonardo, was sentenced to seven years in prison.

But, like the others convicted, he will not serve any of it before at least the first of two possible appeals have been heard, which could take years.

Moretti was one of 33 people charged with manslaughter, causing a disaster and other charges in connection with the derailment and explosion of a freight train carrying liquid petroleum gas in the Tuscan coastal town of Viareggio on June 29, 2009.