"I've been caught in a collision": a reconstruction of the minutes after the deadly train crash in Adamuz

BarcelonaTheInvestigation into Sunday night's train crash in AdamuzThe train crash, which has already left 42 dead, more than a hundred injured, and 43 missing, continues. Moments after the Adamuz train accident, the driver of the Iryo company contacted the Adif control center in Atocha to warn that he had experienced a "coupler" near the town in Córdoba province. The communication, recorded on the train's black box and published by [unclear - possibly "the train" or "the train"].Eldiario.esThe recording contains the initial description of what happened, when the driver still didn't have a complete understanding of the derailment or the extent of the collision with the other train involved. Far from clarifying the facts, however, the audio has raised many questions. How could neither the driver nor the control personnel mention the collision with the Alvia train? How could the control personnel say that "no other train is coming"? The ARA (Argentine Radio and Television Archive) has spoken with several train drivers and experts who, with their experience, provide the necessary context to interpret this call. This is a reconstruction of what likely happened in the minutes following the fatal collision and the call:

At 7:45 p.m. on Sunday, the Iryo high-speed train passed kilometer marker 318.693 on the Madrid-Seville line at approximately 210 km/h. It was traveling from Malaga to Madrid. Upon reaching this kilometer marker—a straight section of track—a problem between one of the wheels and the rail caused the last two cars, numbers 7 and 8, to derail. The train, however, continued moving at full speed due to inertia. Although the wheels of the last two cars were no longer on the rail, the Iryo continued for about 500 meters, while on the other track, very close by, another high-speed train, the Alvia, approached, traveling in the opposite direction from Madrid to Huelva.

"Although he must have seen Alvia coming, Iryo's colleague and driver must have been very disoriented, staring at his control panel, trying to understand what was happening to his train," agree the train drivers consulted. These experienced drivers explain that the feeling from the cab when a train derails doesn't necessarily have to be "scandalous." "You notice the train losing power and that you're being pulled along," they comment.

The latest findings of the investigation indicate that both trains crossed paths at full speed at kilometer marker 318.200. They collided in fractions of a second. At this point, images from after the accident show that the tracks were completely obliterated, disintegrated. However, the speed and weight of both trains prevented them from stopping: the force of inertia and kinetic energy propelled them forward for hundreds of meters.

"It's entirely possible that between the noise of his own train in motion and the movements caused by the derailment, he didn't realize the collision was coming," a driver points out. "Furthermore, when you derail and break ballast [the white slabs that cross the rails perpendicularly], a huge amount of dust is thrown up, and you can't see anything that's happening," comments Alberto Puivecino, a railway worker and head of Mobility and Infrastructure at the CCOO union.

Finally, both trains came to a stop. The Iryo stopped in front of the station building. The Alvia derailed, and the first two cars fell down a four-meter embankment due to the impact. There were more than 600 meters between the two trains. It was at that moment that the train drivers consulted believe their colleague made the call to the technical control center.

In the audio of the call, the train driver can be clearly heard saying that he has suffered a "junction" and that the train is stopped. He also specifies that he needs to get out and personally inspect the train to understand what happened. A few minutes later, he returns to the cab and, in a second communication, reports that he has seen the train encroaching on the other track and requests that traffic be stopped. The control center tells him not to worry, "that no other train is coming." At that point, the train drivers explain, "it will all be over." The driver also specifies that he has injured passengers on board and needs ambulances and assistance teams.

How, then, can it be explained that in the call the control center doesn't ask about Alvia or doesn't see it (on screens) stopped or involved in an accident? Both the train drivers consulted and the railway experts Joan Carles Salmeron, director of the Center for Transport Studies, Terminus, and Alberto Puivecino, a railway infrastructure expert at the CCOO union, agree that the explanation lies in the control panels.

High-speed lines operate with a system called "blocks," which divides the track into sections. Each block has a closed electrical circuit, and when a train passes through that section, the control center sees that section (or block) in red. When both trains are stopped, on the control screen, the track block where Iryo is located and the block where Alvia is located are both red. "The control technician understands at that moment that Iryo is stopped on that section of track, and sees that the other train has already passed Iryo's point," explains Puivecino.

"What the control center doesn't see at that moment is that the Alvia train is also stopped," he adds. They will realize it later, in a matter of seconds, when they see that this train also isn't moving to the next section within its allotted time. This is the screenshot that Minister Puente posted in this message on social media on Sunday, showing the occupied sections in red: at the top, the section occupied by the Iryo train (06189), and below, but further along, the section of track occupied by the Alvia train (02384).

The latest information dispels any remaining doubts. The Country It was reported this Wednesday that the Atocha station control center attempted to make two calls to the Alvia train driver when they finally realized that this train was also stopped. No one answered. The first conversation, the newspaper explains, was between the control center and a ticket inspector. The technician asked if he could contact the driver, and she replied that he had suffered a head injury and was bleeding. The woman tried to get to the driver's cab to locate him. In the background, the previously described call between the other technician and the Iryo train driver could be heard; therefore, both calls occurred at the same time.