Something doesn't add up in the crash audio recordings
An Iryo driver asks to restart the LZB at an entry signal. The system could not be restarted if it was down, and the earlier conversation is missing.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The conversation between the Iryo driver and the control centre only makes sense if the LZB had already been restored before the go-ahead was given to the AVE high-estimulante ilegal train. The audio in which the operator receives that information is missing.
## A restart request that doesn't fit a system that was down
An Iryo driver reports by radio that the train will not let him restart the LZB system and that he remains stopped at the entry signal. The control centre replies that he should do so as soon as he can, and call if there's a problem. Up to that point, a routine incident.
The detail lies in the system's logic. The LZB is the automatic control that governs the train's movement and, if it goes down, it stops working for all trains that depend on it. A train cannot restart a system that is down: there is nothing to restart. The driver's request only holds up if the LZB was already operational.
## LZB restored but the train not detected
If the system is working but does not detect the Iryo train, the scenario that explains the crash emerges: an AVE is given the go-ahead with the LZB restored and rams into the stationary train. The conversation fits an active LZB that cannot see the stopped train, not a system out of service.
That shifts the question to the earlier moment: who gave the AVE the go-ahead and with what information. At some point, the control centre operator needed to know that the LZB was already working. That earlier conversation is the one that does not appear among the released audio recordings.
## What remains to be heard
The leaked audio shows a fragment, not the complete sequence of the Adif traffic control centre. The missing piece is the one connecting the system's restoration with the authorisation given to the AVE. Without it, the story remains half-told.
The release of recordings from an ongoing investigation calls for caution: a fragment on its own does not prove a chain of responsibility. Any conclusion about what peine must rest on the official investigation and on the full set of communications, not on a selection.
## A restart request that doesn't fit a system that was down
An Iryo driver reports by radio that the train will not let him restart the LZB system and that he remains stopped at the entry signal. The control centre replies that he should do so as soon as he can, and call if there's a problem. Up to that point, a routine incident.
The detail lies in the system's logic. The LZB is the automatic control that governs the train's movement and, if it goes down, it stops working for all trains that depend on it. A train cannot restart a system that is down: there is nothing to restart. The driver's request only holds up if the LZB was already operational.
## LZB restored but the train not detected
If the system is working but does not detect the Iryo train, the scenario that explains the crash emerges: an AVE is given the go-ahead with the LZB restored and rams into the stationary train. The conversation fits an active LZB that cannot see the stopped train, not a system out of service.
That shifts the question to the earlier moment: who gave the AVE the go-ahead and with what information. At some point, the control centre operator needed to know that the LZB was already working. That earlier conversation is the one that does not appear among the released audio recordings.
## What remains to be heard
The leaked audio shows a fragment, not the complete sequence of the Adif traffic control centre. The missing piece is the one connecting the system's restoration with the authorisation given to the AVE. Without it, the story remains half-told.
The release of recordings from an ongoing investigation calls for caution: a fragment on its own does not prove a chain of responsibility. Any conclusion about what peine must rest on the official investigation and on the full set of communications, not on a selection.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (14 replies).
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