Adif and Renfe will remove the train that derailed between Atocha and Chamartín in pieces

Adif and Renfe will be removed in pieces the train that derailed last SaturdayOctober 19, in the high-speed tunnel that connects the Madrid stations of Atocha and Chamartin. Operations will be carried out at night to avoid interruptions in passenger service.

The two companies, with public capital, have not specified the duration of the work to dismantle the damaged convoy. The withdrawal will be made at night to guarantee the least possible impact on passengers and so that passengers high speed services planned can operate normally, as reported this Monday by Adif and Renfe in a joint statement.

To free the affected track, the designed plan includes sectioning the train into several pieces, which will be extracted from the tunnel progressively. This operation, which involves “an unprecedented technical and logistical effort in the railway field“, has been designed to restore circulation on the affected roads in the shortest possible time, also giving priority to the safety of the passengers and the personnel involved.

Last Friday, the Ministry of Transport made public a first report on train derailmentwhich recognizes that it was a “serious accident“, which the Railway Accident Investigation Commission (CIAF), an autonomous body, is analyzing.

According to that first report, The convoy was made up of two high-speed unitsone of which was damaged and was towed by another, from its starting point at the La Sagra maintenance base (Toledo) to the Fuencarral workshops (Madrid). Upon arriving at the station Chamartinthe lead unit, that is, the towing part, suffered a traction failure that prevented it from climbing the entrance ramp to the station.

To overcome the obstacle, the engineer and the command post agreed to turn the train back to gain momentum from a flatter section. While this maneuver was being prepared, the damaged train unit, that is, the towed one, broke free from its hitch and began to drift down the tunnel without brakes, without a battery and with the two technicians on board.

After more than four kilometers of drifting through the tunnel, He arrived at high speed at the Botanical Garden stationwhere the train was changed from track 1 to track 2, but at the next curve it derailed and went off on a tangent, crashing into the tunnel wall. The first three cars overturnedwhile the fourth remained derailed in an upright position and gradually lost speed until it stopped.

The document highlights that the two maintenance technicians who were on board the train were able to leave safely. After the derailment, Adif considered the possibility of moving the entry and exit point of high-speed trains towards Levante, taking them from Chamartín, their usual station, to Atocha. Last week, finally, operators were guaranteed that they could continue providing these services from Chamartín.

The three companies that operate high speed (Renfe, with its two brands AVE and Avlo; Ouigo and Iryo) confirmed to Efe that over the weekend they would operate normally towards the Levante corridor.

Another derailment in Barcelona

This weekend another derailment occurred in Barcelonain which there were no injuries either, although caused traffic cuts on lines R-4 and R-8 of Rodalies between the stations Martorell Central and Castellbisbal. The incident, whose causes are unknown, occurred this Sunday, shortly before 9:45 a.m., when a Rodalies train without passengers was making a maneuver at the Martorell station and the lead car left the axis of the tracksaccording to sources from the infrastructure manager, Adif, and Renfe.