Madrid (AFP) – Spain will work “tirelessly” to restore confidence in its high-speed trains, the transport minister said Tuesday, after a collision last week killed 69 people in the country’s second such disaster this year. The accidents have undermined trust in the world’s second-largest high-speed rail network and overshadowed campaigning for a November 29 general election in which Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is trailing in opinion polls.
“We pledge to work tirelessly to achieve and regain the public’s trust in high-speed rail,” Transport Minister Oscar Puente told a press conference as he presented measures to improve safety. A train operated by the state-owned Renfe ploughed into the back of a stationary train belonging to the private Spanish company Iryo on Wednesday outside the village of Urda, around 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of Madrid. The failure of an automatic safety system halted all trains on a 63-kilometre stretch of track, but a control centre nonetheless authorised the Renfe service to resume its journey.
Among the measures announced by Puente was the creation of software for control centres that would issue automatic alerts and make it easier to spot anomalies in traffic. Puente said an AI agent would be created to oversee the system and “minimise the possibility of human error,” describing the proposal as unprecedented. In scenarios where a control centre operator took a decision while the automatic safety system was down, a second operator would have to validate it, Puente added.
– Safety under scrutiny –
The right-wing opposition, which is demanding Puente’s resignation, and unions have criticised him for appearing to pin all the blame on one control centre operator. The train drivers’ union Semaf, which has called strikes at Renfe for November 10 and 12, has denounced a worsening of working conditions and the use of “degraded systems.” Critics say investment in maintenance has not kept up with the increase in passenger numbers since the 2021 liberalisation of Spain’s rail network, which allowed private companies to break Renfe’s decades-long monopoly.
In an apparent recognition of the unions’ demands, Puente, who has refused to resign, said the working conditions of control centre operators would be reformed, including their breaks and monitoring their fatigue levels. Puente also announced an aid package of 30 million euros ($33.5 million) for the families of the dead and the scores of people who were injured in last week’s accident.
Another collision in the southern region of Andalusia in January killed 46 people on the same key line connecting Madrid with the city of Seville, Spain’s first high-speed route when it opened in 1992. The stricken trains’ last carriages have been removed from the tracks, and the government has requested a court authorisation to repair and reopen the line, Puente said.
© 2024 AFP
