The State denies irregularities in the removal of the material from the Adamuz accident and defends Adif.
Santano claims that the pieces of track were not from the accident area and were going to be "destroyed"
BarcelonaThe Secretary of State for Transport, José Antonio Santano, has reacted in the controversy generated by the alleged removal of railway equipment from the area of the Adamuz accident in January, "under cover of darkness and without judicial authorization." In a public appearance this Tuesday in Barcelona, Santano denied any wrongdoing and defended Adif's work.
The Secretary of State emphasized that the work of the Civil Guard and the Railway Accident Investigation Commission (CIAF) had already concluded on January 22nd and that the judge herself had authorized Adif to begin reconstruction work on January 27th. Furthermore, Santano stated that the pieces of track and other elements removed were not from the accident site and were going to be "destroyed."
"Thanks to Adif, these materials were moved to a maintenance building in Hornachuelos and have always been available to the courts and police," continued the Secretary of State for Transport, who specified that the pieces of track that were stored were located at a distance of between 127 and 380 meters from the point. similar" to those at the fatal derailment point.
Adif sources added that the pieces of track were from the section heading towards Madrid, that is, in the opposite direction to the derailment point. Santano insisted that the Civil Guard and the CIAF concluded their investigation on January 22 (four days after the accident between Iryo and Alvia that caused 46 fatalities) and added that they took "all the evidence," without any precautionary measures in the area.
"The remaining materials were left there, and on January 27, the judge authorized Adif to begin the reconstruction work on the affected section," the Secretary of State for Transport emphasized, "without any objection from the Civil Guard." Santano recalled that the work began immediately and that the Civil Guard's new request came on the eighth or ninth day of work in the area.
He also emphasized that the materials could be recovered because Adif decided to store them in the Hornachuelos depot. "If that hadn't been done, the Civil Guard and the CIAF would hardly have had them available, as they would have been destroyed as scrap metal," Santano said. "That's the reality, and that's Adif's transparency. I don't understand this attempt to find some shady or suspicious element," he concluded.
Judge's intervention
The judge presiding over the Adamuz train accident case has ordered Adif (Spain's railway infrastructure manager) to "immediately return any material it has taken possession of" to avoid criminal liability. In a ruling obtained by EFE, the head of the Montoro Court of First Instance and Preliminary Investigation Number Two responds to a report filed by the Civil Guard's investigation unit in Córdoba, which stated that Adif removed material without authorization. The judge has ordered the railway infrastructure manager to "refrain from carrying out any operation" involving the removal or transfer of material related to "and of interest to the investigation" without prior judicial authorization.