Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has admitted “trust in high-speed rail has been broken” after Wednesday’s deadly train collision that killed at least 69 people, injured more than 100 and prompted a national debate on the safety of the country’s rail network.
asserted
that → admit → network
Sánchez said the Spanish state was “working tirelessly” to provide information as quickly as possible to the families of the victims – who include people from at least 23 different foreign countries – adding that his government was committed to finding what had caused Spain’s second deadly train collision this year.
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what → say → collision
Two trains, one from Spain’s state-owned Renfe and the other from the private rail company Iryo, were travelling from Madrid towards the southern region of Andalucía on Wednesday when they collided just before 9am.
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they → own → am
After the Iryo train came to a halt, the other slammed into its rear, knocking several carriages off the track near Urda in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha.
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other → come → Mancha
The crash came nine months after 46 people were killed and dozens injured when two trains – one from Renfe and one from Iryo – collided on the same line near the town of Adamuz in Andalucía.
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trains → come → Andalucía
“It’s unacceptable for a country like Spain – which has such a powerful high-speed rail system – to experience two accidents of this nature and magnitude within a single year,” the prime minister said on Friday.
“
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minister → ’ → Friday
Therefore, our task isn’t merely to investigate the causes of what occurred, but also to provide solutions to further strengthen our nation’s high-speed rail system.
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what → investigate → system
Public trust in the high-speed system has been broken; the government’s responsibility goes beyond diagnosing the causes – it must also offer solutions to ensure that a tragedy of this scale doesn’t happen again.
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tragedy → break → scale
Shortly after Sánchez spoke, Spain’s transport minister, Óscar Puente – who is under growing pressure to resign – gave a press conference in which he dismissed calls to step down, promising instead to focus on “providing the Spanish people with solutions” to restore trust.
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he → speak → trust
“My duty now isn’t to talk about whether or not I carry on with my job; it’s to solve the problems, clarify what happened and offer clear explanations,” he said.
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he → talk → explanations
“The most important thing I can do is offer solutions as best I can.
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I → do → solutions
If the investigation shows there were failures of organisation or control, we will act accordingly.
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we → show → organisation
And if individuals are found to be responsible, action will be taken.”
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action → find → ?
Puente once again suggested that responsibility for Wednesday’s crash appeared to lie within the Madrid control centre of Spain’s state infrastructure operator, Adif.
uncertain
responsibility → suggest → operator
He said that in the run-up to the crash, the LZB signalling system – which automatically halts a train if the line ahead is occupied – had gone down, but stressed that such incidents were not at all uncommon.
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incidents → say → train
Once the system was down, he said, control and decision-making powers ultimately reverted to humans, as was the case in other transport sectors.
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case → say → sectors
The minister added that the crash had occurred after an Adif operator ordered the Renfe train to move off at “normal” speed, rather than following the protocols, which stipulate a top speed of 40kph (25mph) so that drivers can see any dangers ahead in good time.
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drivers → add → time
According to a preliminary investigation report released on Thursday, the Renfe train was travelling at between 160kph and 200kph when it hit the Iryo train.
uncertain
it → accord → train
The report concluded: “The sequence of malfunctions, instructions, and actions eventually led to the collision, in the absence of the necessary mitigating barriers.”
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sequence → conclude → barriers
Puente said the operator in question was a 48-year-old man, with all the relevant up-to-date training and two years of experience in control centres, who had been managing this specific area since February this year.
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who → say → February
“So, it was a sector he knew well,” the minister added.
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minister → know → ?
Transport unions have pushed back at the government, arguing that current workloads are too demanding to handle safely and asking for more personnel to help with the pressures.
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workloads → push → pressures
“We believe [the minister] is blaming a mere worker who was working under increasingly poor conditions,” Raquel Ayllón, a spokesperson for SCF, Spain’s railway traffic controllers union, told the Associated Press.
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Ayllón → believe → Press
What is incomprehensible is that the safety system is regularly failing.”
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system → fail → ?
Spain’s conservative People’s party (PP), which is forecast to topple Sánchez’ socialist-led minority coalition government in next month’s snap general election, has repeatedly called for Puente to step down.
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Puente → forecast → election
The PP’s leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, said his party was holding Puente and Sánchez “politically responsible” for both rail crashes.
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Puente → say → crashes
“Whoever has failed in their duty to run the transport ministry properly must bear the consequences,” he said.
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he → fail → consequences
“And the person who appointed them – and kept them in their post – even more so.
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who → appoint → post
If they do not resign, we will remove them at the ballot box.”
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we → resign → box
Ada Colau, the former Barcelona mayor who now leads the leftwing Frente Amplio coalition that is running in the election, also said Puente needed to go.
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Puente → lead → election
“We’re not going to engage in the triviality of debating whether that resignation should take place today, tomorrow, or the day after,” she said.
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she → go → place
“It must happen as soon as possible.”
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It → happen → ?
Asked about the possible effect of the latest crash on the election, Puente said he’d given the matter “zero thought”.
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he → ask → thought
“I don’t believe anyone would expect me to be thinking about the election campaign at a moment like this,” he told reporters.
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he → believe → reporters
The Aporia
