The investigation into the train accident in Adamuz, Córdoba (central-southern Spain) that left at least 40 dead points to the breakage of a section of the track, which may be a “cause or consequence” of the accident, although efforts are still focused on recovering the two convoys of the Alvia train that fell down an embankment.
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The technical rescue teams have begun to install a large crane to lift the carriages of that damaged Alvia, although the tasks will be slow due to the amount of material to be removed and there are fears of more deaths in those two convoys, reported the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno.
Likewise, a total of 41 people remain hospitalized, while 43 reports of disappearances have been filed in the command offices of Huelva, Madrid, Málaga, Córdoba and Seville. The Institute of Legal Medicine of Córdoba has already received the bodies of 37 deceased and the forensic experts have performed 23 autopsies, reported the Integrated Data Center (CID) through the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia.
The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, explained that the investigation must determine whether the breakage of a section of the track is “the cause or the consequence” of the derailment of the Iryo train that caused the collision with the Alvia train, although he has recognized that this gap is “very large.”
More context: Passengers recount terror, screams and darkness after the train accident in Spain
Puente indicated that the Railway Accident Investigation Commission (CIAF) is in the data collection phase and any hypothesis is “a speculation, like many others.”
The investigative commission points out in its first description of what happened that an Iryo train derailed, causing the last two cars of the train to invade the adjacent track.
Twenty seconds later, an Alvia train arrived on that track, whose first two carriages collided with the last two of the Iryo, causing those first Alvia convoys to fall down a four-meter embankment.
The CIAF, for its part, requested from Adif the record of circulation through Adamuz for the two days prior to the accident and will inspect the running of other trains that circulated through that point in the hours prior to the accident.
As reported by the Ministry of Transportation in a statement, the commission has determined that, in addition to inspecting the tread of the Iryo train in a workshop, the rails at the starting point of the derailment will also be analyzed in a laboratory.
The investigation will also extract the data from the legal recorders (the ‘black’ boxes) of both trains and they will be transferred to the CIAF offices in Madrid to be later transferred to a laboratory.
The damaged Iryo train had been inspected on January 15, three days before an accident that has caused the suspension of the high-speed rail connection, whose full resumption is scheduled for February 2, although work is being done to enable one of the two tracks “as soon as possible and circulate on it for a few days,” according to Puente.
Continue reading: Investigators find a broken joint on the track from the train accident in Spain, according to a source
Twenty seconds: no room for maneuver
“It was not a problem of excessive speed and it was a straight line, not a curve. Drawing conclusions is not going to be something immediate,” said the president of Renfe, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, who pointed to a problem on the tracks or in the trains and left the option of human error.
As he explained, it is a road that had been repaired in May and “should be in optimal condition,” while at the same time it is equipped with a LZB safety and signaling system, which “basically prevents human errors.”
“When the LZB detects an obstacle on the track, it activates automatic braking (…). Apparently the time interval between one train and another that crossed in the opposite direction has been 20 seconds and, therefore, it is impossible for the mechanism to act,” he indicated.
Since last spring, the railway infrastructure manager, Adif, has reported at least eight incidents in Adamuz, related to the catenary, signaling and the infrastructure itself, among others.
Renfe and airlines reinforce services
Renfe activated an alternative operational transport plan starting this Tuesday that will allow high-speed services to operate between Madrid and Andalusia, although the section between Villanueva de Córdoba and Córdoba will be carried out by bus, thus avoiding passing through the accident site.
The operation will continue as long as the line’s circulation remains interrupted and will allow eight frequencies (four round trips) between Seville and Madrid, and six (three round trips) between Malaga and the capital.
For its part, Iberia has scheduled, from this Tuesday until Friday, one more daily flight in each direction between Madrid and Seville and Madrid and Malaga, which will increase its capacity by 728 additional seats, 364 on each route, while Air Europa will offer 360 more seats per day between Madrid and Malaga, also until Friday.
With information from EFE
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