Published on
Transport Minister Óscar Puente has said an “inexplicable” decision by a central control centre in Madrid is at the centre of the investigation into Wednesday’s high-speed train crash in Castilla-La Mancha, rather than the actions of the train drivers.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
At least 68 people have died and 58 are receiving treatment in hospital, according to regional authorities.
Puente said an order he describes as “inexplicable” from the central control centre had allowed the high-speed Renfe-operated train to resume normal running after a safety system failed. He stressed that the train drivers were not to blame and said the investigation was now examining how that decision was made.
According to the minister, at around 8:30 am the LZB safety system failed along a 63-kilometre stretch of track because of a computer malfunction, automatically bringing around six trains to a halt. The control centre then took over management of the traffic.
At 8:36 am, the Renfe AVE high-speed train was authorised to resume normal running despite a red signal remaining active on the line. It then travelled around 25 kilometres before colliding with a stationary Iryo train at around 8:53 am.
Puente said the AVE should instead have been operating under the “marcha a la vista” procedure, a railway safety measure used when automated control systems fail. Under the procedure, trains must travel at reduced speed so that drivers can stop if they encounter an obstacle or another train on the line.
Authorities are still examining data to establish the train’s exact speed before the collision, although Puente said it could have reached up to 200 kilometres per hour on that section of track.
Puente described the incident as “one of the toughest moments anyone can face” and expressed his solidarity and sympathy with the victims.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that “the whole of Spain is in mourning” following the accident and expressed his solidarity with the victims, their families and the injured.
Sánchez said the government’s immediate priority was to care for victims and their relatives, locate survivors and ensure those affected received material and psychological support.
He also praised the work of emergency and Civil Protection services and the coordination between the authorities involved in the response.
Sánchez warned that if failures in the safety systems were confirmed, the government would respond firmly.
The prime minister also announced three days of national mourning.
The collision was Spain’s second deadly high-speed rail crash this year, after 46 people were killed in another accident involving Renfe and Iryo trains in January.
