A tragic accident on the high-speed train line between Andalusia and Madrid has highlighted the urgent need to modernize the Spanish railway system.
At 7:45 p.m. on Sunday, January 18, a modern Iryo high-speed train collided with a Renfe train on the detour (needle) at the entrance to the Adamuz station, in the province of Córdoba, Andalusia. The Iryo 6189 service, traveling from Malaga to Madrid, had requested a change of track, but current information indicates that the last three cars literally jumped the detour that gives access to the track next to the platform, leaving the main track free.
This caused the last three cars to derail and collide with the Renfe Alvia 2384 service, which was traveling in the opposite direction, from Madrid to Huelva. The collision was violent, although the combined speed of both trains is still unknown.
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Railway liberalization in Spain
The Spanish passenger rail transport market opened to new competitors in May 2021, but until early 2023 the only trains authorized to circulate on the Andalusia-Madrid corridor were those operated by the public company Renfe. The reason was that the blocking and security system of these roads had not been updated.
Following pressure from new operators OUIGO (owned by the French public company SNCF) and Iryo (owned by Trenitalia and its Spanish partners Air Nostrum and Globalia), which already operated on the Madrid-Barcelona and Madrid-Levante routes, the Andalusian route was opened to competition. This increased the frequency of services and expanded the options available to users.
The high-speed line between Madrid and Andalusia was inaugurated in 1992, making it the oldest in Spain. Although it has been improved and modernized in several sections, its security systems need urgent renovation.
Find out: Spanish authorities are looking for causes of the train crash, with at least 40 dead
Signaling systems
In the almost 227,000 kilometers of railway tracks in the European Union there are more than 25 different and non-interoperable railway protection and signaling systems. These systems (the German LZB, the French Crocodile, the Italian BACC, the Spanish ASFA, among others) control and allow the safe circulation of trains.
The German LZB (Linienzugbeeinflussung) signaling system is still in operation on the Andalusia-Madrid railway corridor, where it was installed for the high-speed line. Although efficient, this system has been surpassed by the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), which is already installed on newer lines.
The ERTMS specifications come from Directive 96/48/EC of the Council of the European Union. The objective is for this trans-European system to completely replace national systems and be fully deployed throughout the EU by 2050. The intermediate objective is for it to be operational in 2030 on the 51,000 kilometers of lines that make up the nine main corridors of the basic European railway network.
In Spain, the new ERTMS system currently coexists with the old LZB system, which modern trains “read” through a technical solution known as Specific Transmission Modules (STM).
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Possible causes of the accident
The causes of the accident are still unclear, but it is unlikely to be a train failure for several reasons: the trains involved are modern and new, with little wear, and the last technical inspection of the Iryo 6189 train was carried out four days earlier. These inspections cover numerous aspects, such as the condition of the wheel flanges, possible fatigue cracks, the different types of brakes, among others.
As far as is known, the infrastructure at the point of the accident is also new, so the geometry of the road (curves, straight sections, slopes and ramps) should be in perfect condition. This leaves open the possibility that the bypass did not function correctly.
In all intermediate stations that are not of large capacity, there are separate tracks where trains can park to let others pass that circulate behind and do not stop at that station.
Iryo’s unit was changing lanes to park. A possible hypothesis is that the deflection mechanism initially worked correctly after the signal sent by the STM system that reads the LZB, but that, for some reason, the needle prematurely moved to the “straight” position. This would have caused the right wheel of the Iryo unit to collide and jump towards the adjacent track due to the centrifugal force and speed, in the opposite direction to the detour, towards the Renfe unit that was traveling in the opposite direction. The Renfe train was dragged from the cabin to a still undetermined number of cars, as can be seen in the images released.
Another possibility is that there was an object on the track, but in that case the derailment would have occurred from the front of the train.
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A deteriorating network
Spanish high speed, which was once an emblem of reliability, modernity and vision of the future, has been progressively deteriorating. The delays, previously infrequent and brief, have become long, leading Renfe to withdraw its commitment to punctuality and ticket refunds. Continuous incidents in the infrastructure managed by the public company ADIF – related to catenaries, brakes and couplings (such as in the tunnel that connects the Madrid stations of Atocha and Chamartín) – have also undermined user confidence.
Furthermore, political ups and downs have prevented the development of a single and agreed plan for the viability, modernization and structure of the network, which allows offering a safe means of transportation capable of responding to the growing demand for rail services compared to air transportation over distances of between 800 and 1,000 kilometers.
The reality is that, at this moment, there are at least 40 dead, dozens of injured and a very negative image of the Spanish railway system. Political and technical leaders must assume their responsibility, regardless of ideologies or survival strategies. At stake is a transportation system used by a growing number of people in both business and tourism, and a critical component of the country’s infrastructure.
This article was originally published by The Conversation
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