From the Railway Sector of CGT Andalusia, a serious warning has been issued following the appearance of photographs taken by the Civil Guard in Adamuz, which show a flagrant violation of the Adif Track Standard (NAV). The images show two rail welds located less than a meter apart, a practice expressly prohibited by railway regulations due to the serious structural risk it implies for track safety.
The proximity of two rail welds less than a meter apart is appreciated -
The NAV 7-1-3.7, relating to Track Laying and to the actions of maintenance, renewal, and conditioning, establishes in a clear and detailed manner the mandatory technical criteria that must be met in the railway infrastructure. In its section 3.4, the minimum distances between aluminothermic and electric welds are set, as well as the possible exceptions, always subject to express authorization from ADIF. None of these exceptions contemplate distances as reduced as those that appear in the photographs, something that is confirmed upon enlarging them.
For the **CGT**, this finding highlights an **alarming lack of control** over the operations being carried out on the **railway network**, especially on the **high-speed network**. A network that **remains off-limits to ADIF railway professionals** and has been **handed over to large IBEX companies**, which **profit from public money** and **subcontract the work** to third-party companies, where **job insecurity** and the **absence of technical requirements** are common
The images released by the Civil Guard not only show the violation of technical regulations, but also reveal the professional intrusion that is spreading in the railway sector. The lack of real oversight by ADIF on works carried out by private companies is generating situations of extreme risk to railway safety.
From CGT Andalucía, they warn that if the violation of the Adif Track Standard, the expulsion of railway professionals, and the lack of control over subcontractors continue to be permitted, what happened in Adamuz will not be an isolated incident, but the prelude to a much larger crisis in the safety of the Spanish railway network.