2023-12-10 02:20:50
Updated: Dec 10, 2023 | 01:20
09 dic 2023 | 23:30
Adif has concluded after a series of tests that the recent derailments of commuter trains between the Madrid stations of Atocha and Recoletos are not due to “anything relevant”, although it has preventively restricted the circulation of the 450 series trains, known like ships, via route 5.
The operator has stressed that the investigation into the derailments of November 26, December 5 and December 8 at the entrance to the Atocha station from the Recoletos Tunnel “is still ongoing.”
And although no additional risks have been detected, Adif has announced that it will increase maintenance consistency and establish a permanent brigade for these assets.
“The design of the route layout has been reviewed and is completely correct. The reviews carried out within the framework of maintenance are also appropriate,” says the Adif report, which clarifies that the tests have not been carried out with the damaged trains, therefore that the conditions of the rolling stock in the tests “cannot exactly reproduce what happened in the incidents.”
Broken needle
The first of the derailments, whose ultimate causes are still under investigation, was caused by a broken needle on one of the crossings, 10A, according to the operator’s report shared by the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, in the social network X, formerly known as Twitter.
As a consequence of this breakage, part of the crossing was “clamped” while waiting for a new needle, which had to be manufactured ‘ad hoc’.
The indicated limitation implied that part of the circulations that did not normally do so entered track 5 of the Atocha Station through detour 24. Adif highlights that the 450 series trains, known as ships, do not usually pass through this point.
On December 5, a first derailment of these ships occurred in the aforementioned detour without there being “a clear cause for it.” Finally, the report says, it was in the early hours of December 8 when a derailment “very similar” to the one on December 5 occurred, both due to the type of train and the rest of the concurrent factors.
Successful walk tests
Given the events, Renfe and Adif scheduled an on-track test on December 8 consisting of a series of passes by two types of trains at different speeds on the section where the suburban trains derailed.
Up to seven tests have been carried out, four of them with a Series 450 and another three Civia and in none of them have there been problems on the route. Nor have any strange noises, instabilities or “any other warning signs” been perceived in the tests, the report says.
As a preventive measure, a temporary maximum speed limitation of 10 kilometers per hour has been established on crossing 10A. Additionally, Adif ensures that all the review measures established in the maintenance system have been applied, such as visual inspections, ultrasonic and geometric auscultation.
Among other short-term actions, once crossing 10A is repaired, it will be left at 30 kilometers per hour and without restriction by design. A preventive restriction will also be established for series 450 trains running on track 5.
“It will be a conservative measure, to the extent that there is an open investigation with no apparently clear conclusion, in order to generate security in the system, although the tests have given satisfactory results,” the report adds. Detour 24 will also be clamped to a direct track, preventing traffic from passing through to track 5 from crossing 10A. The above, says Adif, will “completely” mitigate the risk of human error that would be necessary when limiting the type of train to circulate.
Finally, it recommends to Renfe that the ships that are going to circulate in the area adjust in all their parameters to those that circulated in the last tests carried out.
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