The Iryo train driver, whose train was hit by an AVE in Urda, Toledo, warned Adif's control center that she was still stopped before the station's entry signal. She had tried to restart the security system twice without success in getting her convoy to continue and, before the collision, contacted her company to request assistance.
Her situation was reflected in the recordings of conversations with Adif's Traffic Regulation Center in Atocha, responsible for managing traffic on that section. "The train is not allowing me to restart the LZB system, and that's why I'm still stopped before the entry signal," the driver communicated in one of the calls.
Iryo train 6076 remained stopped on the Madrid-Seville high-speed line when it was hit from behind by Renfe's AVE 2080. The accident has left 74 dead and more than a hundred injured, according to the balance known this Thursday afternoon, while emergency efforts and investigations to clarify the causes continue.
Two restart attempts and a call to her company
The incident began with a breakdown of the LZB, the system that transmits instructions to the cabin and supervises train circulation. The failure affected a section of the line and caused several convoys to stop, including the two that were later involved in the accident.
The Iryo driver informed the Atocha center that she had lost transmission and was stopped before the Urda entry signal. From the control center, she was instructed to disconnect and reconnect the LZB and to resume travel under the protection of the Lateral Signaling Block (BSL), the system that allows circulation by observing signals located next to the track.
The driver tried to restart the system twice, without success, according to sources close to Iryo. After these attempts, she contacted her company's control center to report the incident and request assistance from maintenance personnel. The train remained stopped.
In a second communication with Adif, the driver again explained that she could not restart the LZB. "I am still stopped before the entry signal," she insisted. From the center, they replied that she should continue when she could and call again if she had problems.
The AVE had received the order to resume travel
Behind the Iryo, Renfe's AVE was circulating. Its driver had also reported an incident related to the system failure and, according to the known recordings, received at 8:36 a.m. the instruction to disconnect and reconnect the LZB and resume normal operation under the protection of the lateral signaling.
The audios also include conversations between control center workers about the difficulties of the Iryo and the speed indication it had assigned. The disseminated recordings show only a part of the communications and the investigation will have to determine what information the operators handled and how decisions were made.
The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, described as "inexplicable" on Wednesday the authorization for the AVE to proceed normally when there was another train stopped ahead. The speed at which the convoy was traveling at the time of impact and the operation of the different security systems are among the points that need to be clarified.
There are also different versions regarding the exact time of the collision and the sequence of some communications. The judicial and technical investigations will have to cross-reference the complete recordings, circulation records, and train data to reconstruct what happened.
The Iryo driver was injured and testified before the Civil Guard after the accident. According to Castilla-La Mancha Media, she reported that she was stopped at a red signal when she felt the impact of the AVE and saw the wagons derail.
