Adif removed 42 meters of track from Ademuz accident, forum claims

Adif removed 42 meters of track from Ademuz accident, forum claims

The Civil Guard photographed Transport Ministry officials bypassing police seals to take track pieces to a warehouse in the dead of night, according to a message in the thread. This is the starting point of a suspicion that no longer remains theoretical: in the Ademuz accident, Adif allegedly concealed 42 meters of track, and the judge ordered an investigation into whether the quality defect in the 36 replaced meters could extend to the crash site. The question hovering over the file is not just what peine. It is why evidence is moved at night, without judicial order, before the investigating judge arrives.

Night removal and broken seal

Civil Guard agents identified a Transport Ministry official as the person who gave the order to remove accident evidence, according to published reports. The scene is telling: ministry officials bypassing police seals, pieces moved to a warehouse, witnesses claiming they saw the transfer in the middle of the night. It is not a hallway rumor. It is material investigators have put in writing.

Adif took evidence from the Adamuz accident in the early hours without judicial authorization, and the judge ordered the Civil Guard to verify if the alleged quality defect in the 36 meters of track replaced by Adif could extend to the accident site. Internal emails prior to the rail change do not help the official version: "We must get it out of the track urgently!" said one. Urgent, yes. With the judge's permission, no.

Repeating modus operandi

This is not the first time. The Civil Guard found the cabinets where the Alvia train's black boxes from Adamuz were hidden after moving 350 tons of scrap, and they were already empty. Empty. That is the key to the pattern: first removal, then search, and when searched, there is nothing left to find. An investigator of the accident reported a month ago what happens with her reports: "When they reach higher levels, they are modified."

Operators and drivers do not trust Adif and have requested reduced circulation speeds. Investigators in Urda and Adamuz work with borrowed cameras and obsolete equipment. And Brussels warns the Government it could open proceedings if irregularities are detected in the investigation. The official narrative responds with accusations: Óscar Puente maintains that the UDEF (Financial and Corporate Crime Police) "muddies everything" with "ridiculous and absurd speculations" and "fallacies." Meanwhile, Puente hires an external company to thoroughly investigate the damaged Iryo train.

What the instruction plays for

The problem is not only railway-related. It is about chain of custody. If pieces are moved without judicial order, if black box cabinets appear empty after moving tons of scrap, if technical reports are modified as they go up the hierarchy, the investigation loses its footing. And justice, without evidence, becomes merely procedural.

Some argue this reflects a deliberate will to destroy and manipulate evidence and not cooperate with justice. Against this weighs the argument that these are poorly executed urgent maintenance protocols. The difference between the two is enormous, and the file has not yet closed that gap.

The disconcerting data

42 meters of track. 36 meters replaced. 350 tons of scrap moved to find empty cabinets. Three years is the sentence considered for concealing evidence of a railway accident with fatalities. With those figures, the question stops being who failed and becomes who moved the pieces before the judge arrived.