The Spanish Railway Engine Drivers Union (Semaf) has recognized the "technical advances" achieved in a new meeting held with the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility and the trade union organizations, although it emphasizes that "essential issues" are still pending and warns that it will continue with the mobilizations until there are "approved and published" solutions.
In a note released this Friday, Semaf details that it has held a working meeting at Transport's request, in which Adif, Renfe and the State Railway Safety Agency (AESF) have also participated, with the aim of analyzing the degree of compliance with the points being demanded on railway safety that underpin the current strike call.
The engine drivers stress that, despite the "technical advances", "no essential issues have been closed or definitively approved" and point out that "no agreement to cancel has been signed", so the protest schedule remains "active".
In this regard, the union maintains the stoppages set for November 17 and the strike day of the 23rd of the same month, which had been postponed since Thursday 12 after the Government approved a decree with measures on railway safety, in order to grant a "strict margin" for negotiations with the Executive regarding the pending commitments.
"The only way to end the conflict will be the real, regulatory and effective achievement of all demands," Semaf states. "While solutions are not approved and published with all legal guarantees, we maintain our strike schedule intact. Railway safety does not allow delays or half measures," the organization adds.
The union details a package of ten "pending" demands for "immediate" approval and implementation. Among them, it calls for specific meteorological alerts from Aemet for railways, accompanied by contingency protocols; improving risk communications in the infrastructure through a common centralized registry supervised by the AESF; and redirecting investments in the 4,000 km of High Speed to the nominal protection system (ERTMS/LZB), so that it has a redundant main system, along with the gradual withdrawal of the ASFA (Class B).
It also demands the publication of the AESF guide sheet for the management of abnormalities in the LZB system, effective control and action on the Temporary Speed Limitations, a technical recommendation from the AESF on minimum crews on trains, and the recovery of passive days, as well as a specific care protocol after suffering run-overs.
Lastly, Semaf raises the urgency of correcting technical and safety problems of rolling stock in general, with special attention to the series s106, s453 and s452; the creation of a stable point of contact on safety and working conditions between the Labor Inspectorate, AESF and unions; and the urgent reform of maximum train-traffic control times, along with the approval of cross-validation.