Oscar Puente, Minister of Transportation, appeared this morning to explain the train accident that occurred in Urda (Toledo). At this point, we know that at least 64 people have died and more than 50 have been injured. The accident occurred when a Renfe AVE train ran over an Iryo train while stopped on the track around 9:00 p.m.
These are the explanations.
event. In his statement, Oscar Puente, Minister of Transport, confirmed that the LZB system had fallen and that the Action Protocol had been activated as a backup. This protocol is operated on the Andalusian line from the Atocha Control Center (CRC). According to the Ministry, the incidents occurred as follows.
- At 8:30 the LZB security system went down due to a computer failure and all trains were ordered to stop.
- Atocha takes CRC command.
- At 8:36 the Renfe train was ordered to continue traveling normally.
- The train normally travels 25 km until it collides with an Erio train stopped on the track.
Human error. In his statement, Puente pointed directly to human error as the main cause of the accident. The Transport Minister clarified that once the LZB system goes down, it is the CRC that controls the situation and is responsible for restarting the trains. “It’s been ordered to go on as usual,” he said. This point, as we shall see, is important.
Regarding the AVE that caused the collision, it pointed out that an operator ordered the train to continue traveling normally despite the fact that “the train had a zero finish line. The train had to stop. According to the regulations and ADIF protocol, it could not start moving normally. Furthermore, the track circuit was stuck there and a signal blocked the train. Despite resuming the journey, it was allowed to restart.”
Once this order is given, the train travels 25 km before colliding with the Erio train. The speed at which the train hit is not known at this time. According to Renoff data, a high-speed train traveling at 300 km/h can take more than five kilometers and one and a half minutes to come to a complete stop.
target = 0. What Puente means is that the train had a “zero target”. As explained in the General Railway Traffic Regulation, when an abnormality occurs with the LZB system, a Meta = 0 may occur.
In this case, it is specified that “the system will stop the train and the driver will resume travel with “travel in sight” under the protection of BA (Automatic Blocking) until the next signal.” This “travel in sight” is important because, according to the Transport Minister, the order given is “travel normally.”
“goes naturally” This is another point to take into account. According to the transport minister, the 69-km stretch of the LZB system where trains affected by the stoppage has been ordered by the CRC to continue “normally”. That is, they are performed at the predicted speed in the section.
This, as we have seen, is not what is specified by the protocol. Instead, if there is a meta = 0, it should be commanded to restart with “begin visually”. This formula requires that the driver can stop the train by applying emergency brakes in case of any unexpected event. The rules read the following:
“It imposes on the train driver the obligation to proceed with the caution required by the case, controlling the speed along the length of track he sees in front of the driving position, so that he can stop the train in the face of an obstacle or stop signal. If determined, the reason will be indicated and, if known, the type or types of obstacle will be increased.”
This is particularly important because, according to Puente, the order went wrong and a train driver to whom the order was given corrected the CRC, reminding them that this could not be the case and that they should resume with “running in sight” and “not running normally”.
LZB system. The statement also had time to ask the transport minister about the LZB system. He points out that the system is secure and that breakdowns “aren’t something that happens every day, but they do happen,” thus confirming that it’s not completely out of the ordinary. He wanted to emphasize in this case that there is a backup protocol for these cases.
Picture | RTV
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