The president of Renfe, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, stated this Monday morning that the train accident that occurred on Sunday afternoon in the province of Córdoba, which has claimed the lives of at least 39 people, “There must have been some failure of the rolling stock or infrastructure.”
During an interview on Cadena Ser, the manager stressed that the incident presents “strange circumstances.” He also clarified that there will be no definitive conclusions until the work of the independent investigation commission progresses.
EXCESS SPEED IS ROLLED OUT
Fernández Heredia explained that the accident occurred on a straight stretch of road, with a speed limit of 250 kilometers per hour. As detailed, one of the trains was traveling at 205 km/h and the other at 210 km/h. Therefore, he ruled out that excessive speed was the cause.
He also highlighted that it is a track equipped with the LZB safety system, designed to avoid human errors, and recalled that in May of last year renovation work was carried out on the track devices, the platform and the railway infrastructure.
POSSIBLE VICTIMS STILL AMONG THE WAGONS
The president of Renfe acknowledged that it is still difficult to determine if there are dead people inside the cars of the damaged trains, although he admitted that “possibly yes”, due to the magnitude of the impact and the state in which the units were left.
The accident occurred when a high-speed train from the Iryo operator, which was covering the Malaga-Madrid route, left its track and invaded the adjacent lane, causing the derailment of another train that was making the Madrid-Huelva route. As reported by the Railway Infrastructure Administrator.
SERVICE INTERRUPTED FOR SEVERAL DAYS
Fernández Heredia warned that the high-speed service between Madrid and Andalusia will take several days to be restored. This is because the Renfe wagons were practically disintegrated and it will be necessary to remove them and rebuild part of the damaged infrastructure.
“This is going to last more than four days,” he said, while confirming that among the fatalities was the driver of the second train, an Alvia from the affected operator.
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