The Guardia Civil questioned an employee from an operations control room on 28 October as part of the investigation into the serious train crash near Urda (province of Toledo). According to the Transport Ministry, the decision to allow the following train to resume its journey was made at the control centre, after a failure in the LZBsignalling system had been reported on the affected section.
There are conflicting reports about the employee’s work assignment: while the Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the decision was made at the Adifcontrol centre in Madrid, elDiario.es reported that the Guardia Civil had questioned a technician from Renfe . There had been no official clarification by the afternoon. It is agreed that the decision made in the control room played a central role in the events. Puente called it “inexplicable” while also stressing that Spain’s rail network remained safe.
The accident occurred on Wednesday morning on the high-speed line between Los Yébenes and Urda. A train operated by Iryo came to a halt on the open track when a following Renfe train collided with it shortly afterwards. Several carriages derailed and the link between Madrid and Andalusia was interrupted. No specific legal assessments have yet been made; investigators are initially focusing on facts relating to signalling technology, operating procedures and communications with the control room.
Alongside the Guardia Civil’s work, the independent Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes Ferroviarios is examining the technical records. These include the event recorder and radio data from the trains involved, as well as logs from the control centre. The commission is focusing in particular on the behaviour of the LZB system on the affected, older high-speed section of the Madrid–Seville route. Adif, Renfe and Iryo all said they were cooperating with the authorities and providing staff and data.
The investigations are focusing on three questions: first, whether a technical failure in the LZB system caused the Iryo train to stop; second, whether procedures or safety rules were breached in the control room; and third, whether a combination of technical and human error led to the collision. No reliable conclusions about the cause, responsibility or liability are possible until the forensic analyses and review of all communications data are complete. Further interviews have been announced; the results of the technical investigations are expected in the coming days.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).