Rafael Escudero, spokesperson for the union, said this Wednesday that in the Urda area there is no commercial stop and that the control systems should prevent one train from catching another. The collision between a Renfe AVE and an Iryo has caused fatalities and has forced the suspension of high-speed traffic between Madrid and Andalucía.
The spokesperson for the Railway Union, Rafael Escudero, has expressed his surprise at the circumstances of the railway accident registered in Urda (Toledo), where two high-speed trains, one from Renfe and another from Iryo, have collided early in the morning. In statements to the program Espejo Público, on Antena 3, Escudero has described the crash as "very strange" because of the characteristics of the section in which it occurred and because of the safety systems that supervise railway traffic.
The union representative has explained that there is no commercial stop at that point and that traffic is supervised in real time. According to him, the trains have information about the condition of the track and the protection systems should intervene when they detect a risk situation, such as the presence of another convoy.
Escudero has indicated that, if it is confirmed that one of the trains was stopped and the other hit it from behind, it will be necessary to determine why the safety mechanisms did not prevent the collision. This is a preliminary assessment by the union, since the causes of the accident have not yet been established.
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An AVE would have hit an Iryo train from behind
According to the first indications communicated by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, a Renfe AVE would have hit an Iryo train from behind, causing the derailment of two carriages of this last convoy.
The accident occurred at 8.54 a.m., according to the notice received by the 112 Emergency Service of Castilla-La Mancha. Adif has located the incident at kilometer point 118 of the high-speed line, between Mora and Orgaz and Urda, in the province of Toledo.
The collision has caused the fall of two carriages down an embankment and has forced the interruption of railway traffic between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalucía.
The emergency services have mobilized firefighters, medical teams, three medical helicopters and mobile intensive care units to attend to the victims and participate in the rescue efforts.
The causes of the accident, pending investigation
The statements of the spokesman for the Railway Union refer to the functioning of the systems of supervision and protection of traffic, whose performance must be examined during the investigation.
For the moment, it has not been determined why the collision between the two trains occurred or whether there was any technical, operational, or signaling incident.
The investigation must clarify the circumstances of the movement of both convoys, the position they occupied before the crash, and the functioning of the safety mechanisms.
While emergency work continues, the authorities have begun to communicate provisional casualty figures. Emergencias de Castilla-La Mancha has reported at least 39 dead, according to the latest update released by Antena 3 at 10.16 hours. The figure may vary as rescue work progresses.