This weekend, it was real chaos at the stations. Atocha and Chamartín. The derailment of a train inside the high-speed tunnel which serves trains linking eastern Spain has been contained.
A breakdown in the trailer of one of the trains traveling inside the track on Saturday afternoon caused a total interruption of service which resulted in more than 18,000 people affected during the weekend. Many have had their trips canceled and others have been forced to adapt to various changes.
But finally, this Sunday, Adif communicated the good news: medium and long distance trains for Valencian Community and Murcia They are back to normal. This means that its header would again be Chamartín (instead of Atocha) and neither of them would be suspended. Now the problem doesn’t end there.
However, the Adif services were unable to evacuate the train which was holding the tunnel between Atocha and Chamartín. So what the workers did was move it away and leave only one of the tracks free. Track on which trains will run again. And what about the crashed train? Which will retire this weekend.
This was notified by Adif after having discussed with all the operators (Renfe, Iryo or Ouigo).
What Adif is going to do is leave this damaged train inside the connection between Atocha and Chamartín until next weekend. It will then be that Adif and Renfe will mobilize a special technical device to remove the train.
“It is particularly complex given the characteristics of the space in which it is developed,” the company said.
This will be done, as planned by the two companies, during the weekend of October 26 and 27. At this time, the direction of medium and long distance trains will be changed again, scheduling their departure from Atocha.
Adif assures that it made this decision “consensually” with the operating companies and with the aim of maximizing infrastructure capacity from Monday to Friday.
After removing the material, it will be necessary to assess the condition of the road and proceed with its repair. For this last phase, there are no dates or forecasts.
Complex
Removing the derailed train was not easy. This was stated by Renfe’s General Director of Business and Operations, Oscar Gomez Barberoin the early hours of Sunday morning.
In statements to the media, he recognized the complexity of the operation and did not even dare to give a day to restore service. The media even asked him if the problem could be resolved in “one week” and he didn’t “take his fingers” either.
It’s the minister, Oscar Puentehe who insisted on the need to “liberate” one of the roads and sowed the hope that this could happen during the night.
Operating companies, Iryo and Ouigothey discovered it almost simultaneously to the media. In fact, until a few minutes before Adif’s statement, they didn’t know “how many trains” they could put on the tracks on Monday. Eventually, and at least until this weekend, they all will be.
