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Comment by elnatro | Hacker News Reader

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Every government in Spain for the last decade or more has been cutting corners in maintaining the rail networks: high speed (where this accident happened), the conventional network and commuter rail. You failed to mention the fact our budget has been extended since 2023, that the actual track where this happened was given maintenance under a year ago (per the minister, [^1]) and the train that first derailed (Iryo's ETR1000) was last checked 4 days ago.

Regarding the former Minister (Ábalos), he's awaiting trial and not yet convicted (even though, IMHO he is probably guilty), and he hasn't been in the ministry since 2021[^2] so it makes no sense to bring it up when he has been out for nearly 4.5 years now.

[^1]: https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/espana/2026/01/18/osca... [^2]: https://www.elconfidencialdigital.com/articulo/otros/jose-lu...

According to current minister, the issues come from others before him, so it indeed makes sense to bring that up.

Blaming others for the current underinvestment of the railway network is disingenuous.

Politicians always blame their predecessors.

That's the innovation of democracy. It allows a change of course without locking in policy.

> The current government has been found to be cutting corners

Where do the articles mention that the current government has been cutting corners? In fact, they have increased the current investment plan on the Cercanías commuter railway network to more than 7,000 million euro, from 5.000 million that the previous government planned[1].

Now, this isn't to that the current political landscape is fine because ( as portrayed by the last articles ) is totally unacceptable, and of course that affects the rail network negatively.

[1]: https://maldita.es/malditateexplica/20231212/cercanias-madri...

Quick reminder that more spending does not equal better spending.

I think you are just stirring the pot and cherry picking news.

"Cercanias" is a different rail network to the one where the accident happened (high-speed). Also the political issue that you are mentioning happened 5 years ago on a single individual not directly affiliated to the organization that manages the rail network. Please let's be serious and bring constructive things to the conversation

What does the "Cercanías" conmuter network in Madrid have to do with the high-speed AVE network where the accident took place? They are two different networks, and even if the first one isn't well maintained as you claim, it doesn't mean the other one has to be in the same situation.

Also, it's been four and a half years since the former Transport Minister who is in jail left the office (july 2021).

I can tell that you really don't like the current government but you should relax a little.

There is an accident with death people, maybe people still trapped there and the causes are still unknown. Too early to start playing politics, don't you think?

Anyone serious about rail engineering or safety isn't excitedly dashing off comments pointing fingers before the dust has even settled. Those who are doing that - such as the comment I am replying to - should be ignored

From [2] (machine-translated):

> The accident occurred near Atocha station, on a curve where signage indicates a speed limit of 45 kilometers per hour. However, sources consulted by this newspaper assert that the train, out of control, easily approached speeds of 90 to 100 kilometers per hour, ultimately resulting in the derailment. [...] Two mechanics who were inside the wrecked train escaped injury.

Any indication they deliberately derailed the train?

Edit: yes! E.g.

https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2024/10/22/railway-w...

(Non-specific?)

https://euroweeklynews.com/2024/10/26/investigation-reveals-...

(Says the train was diverted away from others, rather than deliberately derailed maybe)

>Indeed last year some machinists had to derail a train to stop it from crashing other[2].

They were pulling it uphill with another unit, and the coupler broke so it rolled backwards and flipped at the curve.

Im what context it is normal to derail a train to avoid a crash with another one?

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-made/the-runaway-swiss-tr...

More often than you think.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_points

Especially when the train to be derailed is slow-moving or a freight train or runaway.

Actually for shunting that is normal. Derailment during shunting operations is a frequent occurrence and there are derailment facilities where shunting can occur, which get activated every time a train passes. What is rare is having an actual train derail.

As I don't know whether you are referring to an actual train, or just use that as a term for moving railway cars, the answer to your question could be either yes or no.

What course of action would you have suggested?

Not have to do it in the first place because of automated controls and fail-safes?

Sure, but in this case, those don't have exist and you need to make a tough choice, so which is it?

Not having fail-safes is the issue itself.

So smart, do you not understand the question? Don't answer if you can't, instead of trying to weasel. You're acting like the Spanish politicians now.

You are answering all my comments with dismissing my points. Are you angry at them? Feel that your party threatened by them?

You are acting like a good politician servant. I am bringing facts to the conversation while you try to derail it.

Huh? I'm answering to a whole lot of comments, not just yours, you're not special ;)

I'm not angry at you or your comments, I'm mad about misinformation and opinion-pieces lacking nuance though, that I can confess. I have no party, I purposefully don't vote in the nationwide elections, only in local elections.

Anything else you'd like to know about me? Or we're good-to-go for second date already?

You have no party but have a narrative pro-current government, while the corruption in Adif is at the worst level of history in Spain. Bravo!

As someone who works in the sector, I can say that they're right.

The usual fail-safe is actually a derailment mechanism.

Let's not speculate. I'm the first to be skeptical of government but this just makes people skeptical of your words.

This is the problem. I'm skeptical of all our sides of government, they haven't done a lot for us to trust them, and keep chucking our trust into the bin.

But that doesn't mean we should resolve into skipping nuance, not understanding situations and critically evaluate what everyone is claiming. Mixing together two networks in order to score some cheap internet points, when the point doesn't even hold up to the most basic scrutiny, does the opposite of helping the case of proving how shit the government is.

information war.

Is information war telling that the railway transport authority was aware of issues in the accident location for years?[1]

[1]: https://www.elespanol.com/reportajes/20260119/adif-notifico-...

large parts of your post have been debunked.

Nothing has been debunked.

I know nothing about Spanish politics or the railway network there, but jumping on blaming the government before even the beginning of the investigation, when we don't have a clue about the causes of the accident and when the emergency service haven't even finished recovering the victims body yet, is a revulsing attempt at political recuperation.

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