On a Friday in early November, investigators from the European Public Prosecutor's Office walked into three Madrid institutions, the rail manager Adif, the state safety agency, and the national court of auditors, to examine whether European money meant to make the Madrid-Seville line safer had been misspent. It is a quiet, procedural act, but it arrives in the shadow of two fatal crashes this year that have left more than a hundred people dead and a grieving country asking whether the systems built to protect travellers were ever fully trusted to do so. The question now is less about a single
EU Prosecutors Probe Possible Fraud in Spanish Rail Funding After Deadly Madrid-Seville Train Crash
A high-speed train collision in Urda, Toledo province, killed at least 69 passengers, following a January crash at Adamuz that killed 46.
Three crashes, three different causes, one demand: invest in safety
On a Friday in early November, investigators from the European Public Prosecutor's Office walked into three Madrid institutions, the rail manager Adif, the state safety agency, and the national court of auditors, to examine whether European money meant to make the Madrid-Seville line safer had been misspent. It is a quiet, procedural act, but it arrives in the shadow of two fatal crashes this year that have left more than a hundred people dead and a grieving country asking whether the systems built to protect travellers were ever fully trusted to do so. The question now is less about a single failure than about whether the machinery of oversight can be trusted to answer for what it promised.
On Friday, investigators from the European Public Prosecutor's Office arrived at three Madrid institutions: Adif, which manages Spain's rail infrastructure, the State Railway Safety Agency, and the Court of Auditors. They are looking into possible fraud involving EU funds spent on renovating and upgrading safety, signalling and communications on the Madrid-Seville high-speed line. The inquiry follows the October 28 collision at Urda, in Toledo province, which killed at least 69 passengers.
Urda was the second deadly crash this year. In January, a train crash near Adamuz killed 46 people. The same prosecutors had already opened a separate probe in March into how EU funds for track maintenance were used, and there has been no public update on it.
The political fallout has been swift. Transport Minister Oscar Puente resigned, and Adif's president, Luis Pedro Marco de la Pena, followed the next day. Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo will oversee transport until elections later this month. In Brussels, EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas called the closeness of the two crashes "very worrying," and said Spain had requested help from the European Union Agency for Railways.
Survivors have not waited for answers. Soon after Urda, survivors of three of Spain's deadliest rail disasters gathered to demand better safety procedures and sustained investment in maintenance. Cristobal Gonzalez, one of them, warned that crashes at Angrois, Adamuz and Urda will keep happening unless the country invests in safety. The Angrois disaster of 2013, which killed 79 people, remains Spain's deadliest modern rail crash. What comes next is what the searches uncover, whether the March inquiry yields findings, and how the tragedy shapes the vote.
On Friday, investigators from the European Public Prosecutor's Office arrived at three institutions in Madrid: the headquarters of Adif, the company that manages Spain's rail infrastructure; the State Railway Safety Agency, known as AESF; and Spain's Court of Auditors. Their stated purpose was to look into possible fraud involving EU money spent on the Madrid-Seville high-speed line.
The prosecutors' statement said the visits followed the opening of an investigation into possible fraud affecting EU funds allocated to renovating and upgrading safety, signaling and communications systems on that line. The inquiry comes after a high-speed train collision on October 28 in Urda, in Toledo province, which killed at least 69 passengers.
Adif confirmed the visit to the Reuters news agency and said it complied with the search and supplied the information requested. The safety agency and the Court of Auditors did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
Urda was the second fatal crash in Spain this year. In January, a high-speed train crash in the Adamuz region killed 46 passengers. The same prosecutors had already opened a probe into the Spanish rail network in March, examining how EU funds for track maintenance on the line were used. There has been no update on that investigation.
The political fallout has been swift. Transport Minister Oscar Puente resigned on Tuesday, calling it a matter of political dignity. Adif's president, Luis Pedro Marco de la Pena, quit the following day. Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo will cover the transport portfolio until elections later this month, a vote that the tragedy could affect or complicate.
In Brussels on Wednesday, EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas told a news briefing that the closeness of the two fatal accidents was "very worrying" and "not something we want to see." He also said Spain had asked the European Union Agency for Railways to help with its ongoing national investigation.
Survivors have been pressing for change. At the end of October, soon after Urda, survivors of three of Spain's deadliest rail crashes gathered to demand better safety procedures and more investment in maintenance. One of them, Cristobal Gonzalez, told Al Jazeera that crashes at Angrois, Adamuz and Urda will keep happening if nothing is done. He described the causes as he understood them: at Angrois the driver was going too fast, at Adamuz an investigation pointed to a problem on the track, and at Urda it might have been human error and a problem with the control system. Whatever the cause, he said, the answer is to invest more in safety.
The Angrois accident in 2013, which killed 79 people, remains Spain's deadliest rail crash in modern times. What to watch now is what the prosecutors' searches yield, whether the March inquiry produces any findings, and how the crash shapes the election later this month.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Now we have seen three dreadful crashes in Spain, at Angrois, Adamuz and Urda. They will keep happening if we do not act.— Cristobal Gonzalez, train crash survivor, to Al Jazeera
The proximity of the two fatal accidents is very worrying and not something we want to see.— Apostolos Tzitzikostas, EU Transport Commissioner (paraphrase)
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