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Friday, July 26, 2013

The Spanish Train Tragedy 11

Well, if there isn't a concerted government effort to finger the train driver, it's beginning to smell as if there's one.

As I was reading El País at midday - front page headline: 'The Driver Braked too Late' - the waitress pronounced it was clearly the driver's fault. And when I said this wasn't at all proven yet, she responded: "But it's all over the TV".

Below its headline - which can, of course, be read neutrally - El Pais gave a balanced account of current knowledge across several pages. With the usual superb graphics of Spanish newspapers. They certainly quoted the Train Drivers' Union's insistence that the tragedy would never have happened if the advanced ERTMS system had been in place. This system takes over control from the driver and automatically slows or stops the train in dangerous circumstances.

The paper also clarified that the last 4.3km of the line to Santiago didn't have this system. As the train came off the rails 3km from Santiago, this means that 1.3km of track before it only had the older ASFA system. This only sends warnings to the driver if the train exceeds 200kph, meaning it could have come out of the tunnel 1.3km from the bend at 199kph and the driver would not have been warned. Likewise if, as he admitted, he'd been doing 190.

So, the questions remain:-
1. Why was the train doing 190kph when it emerged from the tunnel?
2. Why hadn't the 'foolproof' ERTMS system slowed or stopped the train before the switch to the, now implicated, ASFA system?
3. What information did the driver have about his speed at this point and why did he think 190 was a safe speed when he was familiar with the line and the bend?

There will be more questions than this, of course.

As to possible factors which had nothing to do with either the safety systems or the driver, one engineer has spoken of the possibility of rail displacement well before the bend, essentially meaning that things had started to go wrong well before the crash.

No one will be surprised to learn that, although the curvature of the bend is not considered dangerous per se, making it safer would have cost a great deal of money and caused a lot more (expensive) disruption to the people living near to the tracks.

The fear is that verdicts on this terrible accident will be a long time coming, politically driven and politically comfortable. As with the investigation of the Valencian metro crash of 6 years ago (no one found guilty of anything) and the Prestige oil disaster here in Galicia 10 years ago (trial(s) still in progress) no politician at any risk of being condemned for anything.

Right now, though, the priority is the wounded, and the response of the Spanish people has been highly commendable. At times like this, the word 'solidarity' can be used with only positive connotations.

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