Spanish train drivers call three-day strike after deadly derailments
MADRID, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Spain’s largest train drivers union called on Wednesday for a three-day nationwide strike on Feb. 9-11 to demand measures to guarantee rail safety after three derailments in 48 hours led to accidents that killed dozens of people, including two drivers.
A commuter train derailed on Tuesday in Gelida, near Barcelona, when a retaining wall collapsed on the track during heavy rains, killing the driver and seriously injuring four passengers.
This comes after two trains collided on Sunday near Adamuz in the southern province of Cordoba, one of Europe’s worst train crashes. There was also a train driver among the 43 people who died.
A large piece of machinery found near the Adamuz crash site may have been the missing undercarriage part investigators were looking for to determine what caused the crash, a source and experts said on Wednesday.
Transportation Secretary Oscar Puente told reporters that investigators had analyzed and photographed the piece and that it seemed reasonable to believe that the piece had flown into the river after the two trains collided.
Puente said authorities were working to restart the Madrid-Andalusia rail link on Feb. 2, which has been suspended since Sunday’s crash.
The third derailment of a train on Barcelona’s regional network on Tuesday did not cause any injuries but was caused by a rock falling on the line during the same storm, rail network operator Adif said.
“The serious accidents at Adamuz and Gelida, both resulting in fatalities, are a turning point in demanding that all necessary measures be taken to guarantee the safety of railway operations,” train operators’ union SEMAF said in a statement. he said.
He added that he would seek criminal liability from “those responsible for ensuring safety in the railway infrastructure”.
UNION WARNING WAS MADE ABOUT WEAR AND TEAR
SEMAF had warned Adif in a letter last August about serious wear and tear on the railway line where the two trains crashed, saying potholes, bumps and imbalances on overhead power lines were causing frequent breakdowns and damaging trains on some of the network’s high-speed lines, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.
“We do not share the view that a general strike is the best approach,” Puente told reporters, adding that he would meet with unions.
He said that the Adamuz accident was not triggered by human factors, but the technical cause has not yet been determined and seems very complex.
He said there were small marks on the front bogies of the derailed train and some previous trains, but it would be premature to directly associate them with infrastructure defects.
SEPARATION FOR TRANSPORTATION
In the statement made by the Andalusian regional government, it was stated that rescue teams at the Adamuz accident site found another body, increasing the death toll to 43 as a result of smashing the second wagon belonging to the state operator Renfe, which also contained the cafeteria.
They had used a crane to lift one of the last carriages of the derailed train, operated by private consortium Iryo, from the scene overnight.
Puente said the time between derailment and collision was only nine seconds, giving the trains no opportunity to brake. Officials had previously said the difference was 20 seconds.
Puente said records of telephone conversations between the driver of the Iryo train and the control center in Madrid showed that he and the passengers traveling in the front five carriages did not initially realize there had been a collision with another train.
However, after getting off the train to inspect it and seeing the damage to the rear carriages, he made another call to ask for an ambulance to be sent.
An additional speed limit was introduced on the Madrid-Barcelona line after a driver reported poor conditions on the 78-kilometer track, Adif said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, drivers were instructed to limit their speed due to concerns about the condition of the track. Adif said in a statement that the maintenance team worked throughout the night to inspect the line and found four spots that needed repair.
Trains traveling between Madrid and the eastern city of Valencia have also been ordered to limit their speed on a 1.8km section of the line, Adif said on Wednesday.
Regional trains across Catalonia were suspended on Wednesday to allow track inspections following recent storms.
Renfe published a photo of President Alvaro Fernandez Heredia using the reserve bus service on his way back to Madrid from Adamuz.
(Reporting by Corina Pons, Emma Pinedo, Joan Faus and Jesus Calero; writing by Charlie Devereux; editing by Andrei Khalip, Sharon Singleton and Hugh Lawson)
