The engineer and former Adif worker Antonio Martín Carrillo has assured this Wednesday on esRadio that the circumstances of the Urda (Toledo) railway accident may be known soon, because the necessary information to reconstruct what happened is recorded in the traffic control center. In his view, this circumstance differentiates the investigation of the collision between the Renfe and Iryo trains from that of the Adamuz accident.
"This will be known soon. It is recorded in the control center", Martín Carrillo has stated, who has explained that, in this case, the train records will make it possible to contrast the information preserved in the control room.
The engineer has focused his explanations on the railway protection system LZB, whose function is to maintain safety conditions in circulation and prevent trains from approaching improperly. He has also questioned the maintenance of the Madrid-Seville line and has demanded explanations about the European funds planned for certain actions.
"If the LZB works, the trains do not collide"
Martín Carrillo has explained that the LZB is a protection system that monitors circulation and keeps trains apart. Its operation makes it possible to control running conditions and act when situations are detected that require a safety intervention.
"If the system works, the trains do not collide. It is technically impossible", he has stated.
The engineer has expressed his surprise at the possibility that this mechanism was not operational on a high-speed line.
"I find it hard to believe that on a high-speed line this system that keeps trains apart is switched off", he has pointed out.
As he has explained, when the LZB stops working the corresponding protection measures must be activated. In his intervention he has mentioned the red signals and has assured that, if the system fails, the affected trains stop.
For this reason, he considers it necessary to clarify what happened to this device and under what conditions the convoys were traveling before the collision.
The control center records will make it possible to reconstruct what happened
One of the main points highlighted by Martín Carrillo is that the functioning of the railway systems is recorded in the control center.
The engineer has indicated that this information will make it possible to know the circumstances of the accident and compare them with the data stored in the trains themselves.
This is, according to his explanation, a relevant difference with respect to Adamuz. In Urda, he considers that the investigation will have registered information about the circulation of the convoys that will make it possible to reconstruct what happened.
Martín Carrillo has insisted that all that data must be made available to the judicial authority.
"Everything has to be at judicial disposal," he has stated.
"There was EU money for Madrid-Sevilla"
The engineer has also questioned the maintenance of the Madrid-Sevilla high-speed line.
"We know that the maintenance of the line was not done as it should have been. There was EU money for Madrid-Sevilla, and that was not done and we do not know what happened to the EU money", he has pointed out.
Martín Carrillo has related this concern to the actions that, according to him, should have been carried out on the infrastructure.
However, he has acknowledged that he does not know what happened in the accident and has not established a direct relationship between the maintenance deficiencies he denounces and the Urda collision.
"Something or several things at once had to have happened"
Although his suspicions point to the functioning of the LZB, Martín Carrillo has acknowledged that he still does not know what happened.
"I do not know what has happened now," he has stated.
The engineer considers that an anomaly or a combination of circumstances may have occurred.
"Something or several things at once had to have happened," he has stated.
For this reason, he has explained that it will be necessary to examine the turnouts, the infrastructure, the trains and the tracks, in addition to the functioning of the protection system.
Even so, he has pointed out that the known indications lead him to pay special attention to the LZB, without ruling out other possibilities.
"I trust my Adif colleagues one hundred percent"
Martín Carrillo has expressed his trust in the professionals at Adif and in the information he receives from former colleagues.
"I trust my Adif colleagues one hundred percent," he has stated.
The engineer has explained that he shares the information that reaches him from other professionals, although he has acknowledged his concern about the circumstances of the accident.
"What I see as a technician I do not like," he has stated.
Finally, he has recalled the impact that a railway tragedy has among those who have dedicated their professional lives to the sector, although he has emphasized that that pain is not comparable to the suffering of the victims and their families.
Martín Carrillo trusts that the control center records, contrasted with the trains’ data, will make it possible to soon know what happened in Urda. His explanation keeps open the different technical hypotheses, pending the investigation determining the causes of the collision.