Exactly one year after completing the test and when it is fulfilled more than ten years after the tragedyhas delivered its first verdict on the Alvia train accident, which killed 79 people and injured 145 in Santiago on 24 July 2013. The driver, Francisco Garzón Amo, and the director of ADIF Road Safety at the time of the launch of this high-speed line, Andrés Cortabitarte, were sentenced to two and a half years in prison for 79 counts of murder and 143 injuries due to serious negligence (a person who did not prove that he was travelling on the train and a minor who did not need medical treatment were excluded). The verdict states that the causes of the derailment were, on the one hand, the lack of measures to limit the risk of leaving all safety in the hands of the driver, and, on the other hand, the fault suffered by Garzón, which prevented him from braking in time when taking the tight bend of A Grandeira. The compensation awarded to the victims amounts to over 25 million euros.
In a verdict that can be appealed to the Provincial Court of A Coruña, the Criminal Court number 2 of Santiago convicts the only public official who was in the dock, despite the fact that the Public Prosecutor's Office withdrew its charges against him halfway through the trial. . Magistrate Elena Fernández Currás sees evidence that the human error of Garzón, who took the bend at more than double the speed allowed because he became disoriented by a call from the train conductor, was not the only reason for the disaster. The Alvia reached that point at a speed that made the derailment “safe” “There was nothing on the road to protect him.” in the event that the driver, for whatever reason, does not comply with the obligation imposed by the speed limit table,” the ruling said.
The judge held Cortabitarte, who was head of Adif Security between 2005 and 2013, and the driver of the Alvia equally responsible for the tragedy. It ruled that both had breached the duty of care imposed on them by their position and excluded them from exercising their profession for four and a half years. The driver failed to take “the most basic precautions” by spending 100 seconds on a “non-urgent” phone call and ignoring information from the train documents, the side signals and an earlier acoustic sound. And Adif’s former safety director certified the safety of the line and authorised its commissioning in 2011, despite the fact that the preliminary risk analysis by the company awarded the project showed the risk of derailment at Angrois.
That company proposed the automatic braking system ERTMS to mitigate the risk identified, but this technology that constantly monitors the speed at which the train circulates was not installed. It was planned in the initial project, but it was modified, ERTMS was suppressed and Cortabitarte approved the modification. The judge calls it “incomprehensible” that this dangerous route was left without such important protection, with all responsibility lying with the driver and “without analysing and controlling the safety risks” as required by the legislation.
The judge ruled that the tragedy would not have happened “not only if the driver had been attentive, but also if measures had been taken to control the speed of the train” in an area where it had to be reduced very sharply or there was a sign “that attracted the attention” of Garzón “in a more apparent way than was ever the case.” The ruling lists several “feasible technical solutions” that could have prevented the Angrois tragedy, including extending the ERTMS installation to a point that included the curve or, if this advanced system was not available, installing traffic lights on the road with beacons.
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The sentence also supports Adif's conviction by citing changes the listed company has made following the Santiago incident. in other parts of Spain with sudden changes in speed such as the one needed to take the A Grandeira bend. More than 300 similar points have been identified. “Previously, it was not understood that the person who can cause the risk of excessive speed is a human being who can fail,” says the judge, who stresses that there were formulas to “minimize” the risk of derailment at these points, which, however, They were not adopted before the accident that killed 79 people in Santiago.
The two convicted men must pay the victims 25 million euros in damages, with direct civil liability of the insurers Adif and Renfe (respectively Allianz Global and QBE). They were arrived at by applying a 50% increase to the general extent of road accidents. The judge defends that the greatest moral damage resulting from the experience of a catastrophic accident such as the one that occurred or from the fear, anxiety and anxiety suffered by the relatives of the passengers who died must be covered. It also refers to “the frustration of confidence in the safety of a means of transport such as the railway”, which “makes these victims or injured people more susceptible to trauma or pathological grief.”
10 months trial
The trial lasted ten months, between October 2022 and July last year, after an investigation that lasted eight years. It included some 70,000 pages and two false closures by the investigating judge, who had to resume the investigation in 2016 and 2019 by order of the Provincial Court of A Coruña. During this time, the victims did not stop helping the investigation and mobilizing to demand justice. The sessions ended with those affected by the tragedy crying “sell-out” to the state attorneys who defended the anonymous company Adif, where Cortabitarte works. His disappointment was also evident when the Public Prosecutor's Office decided in the middle of the trial to withdraw its accusation against the only civil servant prosecuted for the accident.
The Victims' Platform Alvia 04155 now celebrates that the verdict dismantles “the official truth” about the accident and supports its fight to expose the government's responsibility in the tragedy. Survivors and relatives of the deceased complain that they had to confront “the state apparatus” to demonstrate that the accident was not just a fatal accident, but was linked to shortcomings in the management of the high-speed railway line that connects Galicia to Madrid. The entity recalls that companies dependent on the central government delayed for years the delivery of “essential” documents for the investigation and that the Xunta even imposed “experts with no railway experience”.
In administrative terms, The EU has stopped the technical investigation into the accident carried out by the Ministry of Development headed by the popular Ana Pastor because it failed to meet the demands of impartiality and dealt with the incident without delving into its deepest causes. This highly contested report has not been repeated, despite the victims' urgent request, not even by the government of Pedro Sánchez. On the eleventh anniversary of the accident, which was commemorated only two days ago, the victims have already demanded a punishment from the former director of Adif Security so that the tragedy “does not happen again”.