The CIAF preselects a non-public laboratory and a second public laboratory to investigate the damaged Adamuz rail and its welding | Economy | EUROtoday

The technical investigation of the Adamuz railway accident (Córdoba) will have the ability to take new decisive steps with the subsequent entry into the laboratory of the proof collected on the foot of the observe. The Railway Accident Investigation Commission (CIAF) has chosen as candidates the non-public technological heart of the Galician affiliation Aimen, and a second laboratory, publicly owned, of the National Center for Metallurgical Research (CENIM), depending on the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CESIC). Next week, the 2 services will undergo the filter of the top of the Montoro court docket (Córdoba), the place the case is being investigated, and are available from a listing ready by the CIAF with which it has sought to keep away from incompatibilities with different laboratories that preserve a relationship with the high-speed operators concerned within the accident, Iryo and Renfe, or with the infrastructure supervisor Adif.

The CIAF has in its custody samples of rail and welding from kilometer 318 of the Madrid-Seville line, the place it’s suspected {that a} break at kilometer level 318,681 led to the derailment of the Iryo convoy on Sunday, January 18, inflicting the speedy collision of the Renfe Alvia that was touring in the wrong way. Of the 2 laboratories that the CIAF aspires to contract, the Galician Aimen would make its debut with this case, offering help to the unbiased physique hooked up to the Ministry of Transport.

The choice of one or each relies on the choose and in addition on the funds and processing. Sources near the case level out that the awarding of a minor service contract, to which the funds offered by Aimen seems to suit, is extra agile than the emergency process required by the worth proposed by CENIM.

With in depth expertise in railway analysis, the Galician heart belongs to the non-public non-profit affiliation Aimen, established in 1967 on the initiative of a bunch of industrialists from Vigo. On its board of administrators, chaired by the paper firm Ence, are representatives of Industrias Ferri, Ascensores Enor, Construcciones Navales Paulino Freire, Fundiciones Rey, Nodosa, Thune Eureka, Ingeniería y Montajes Rías Bajas, and the monetary entity Abanca, amongst different firms. The analysis heart positioned in O Porriño (Pontevedra) has laboratories for metallography, physical-chemical evaluation, mechanical testing, non-destructive testing or corrosion research. Aimen’s credentials embrace participation in European tasks to sensorize wagons and tracks, thereby facilitating preventive upkeep of railway infrastructure.

It is predicted that metallographic exams will likely be carried out in exterior workplaces below the supervision of technicians from the CIAF and the Civil Guard, of which a primary report of the incident was made public this week by which choices akin to sabotage should not dominated out. This identical proof may very well be analyzed within the public laboratory, if the CENIM choice can be chosen, as a way to cross-check the outcomes. Finally, the conclusions will likely be shared with the judicial investigation.

The accident in Adamuz site visitors left 46 fatalities on a straight stretch of observe, annexed to the Adamuz observe diversion that had been renovated inside the framework of the Madrid-Seville line transforming mission, undertaken between 2022 and 2025. The works have been accomplished between May and June of final 12 months and not one of the exams carried out on the rail or the welds revealed any issues till the derailment of the convoy of Iryo. The occasion has unleashed a powerful political storm, with repeated requests for the resignation of the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, and a disaster of confidence within the railway system, which the Government is making an attempt to sort out by offering better sources for infrastructure upkeep work.

Evidence

In addition to the rail segments and fragments of the welds, the CIAF has proof such because the notches attributable to the breakage of the observe within the wheels of at the least three trains that crossed by Adamuz (two from Iryo and one from Renfe) between three and one hour earlier than the occasion, along with the apparent marks on the working system of the derailed Iryo. The technicians have additionally collected info from the sensors on board the trains that circulated by Adamuz till two days earlier than the accident, they’ve gathered ample documentation in regards to the work and the supplies used, and they’re ready for Judge Cristina Pastor to authorize the Montoro court docket to overturn the black packing containers of the 2 models that collided.

The CIAF’s mission is to ascertain the circumstances surrounding the accident and its trigger, or chain of causes, to subject a report with security suggestions to be adopted by the Adif infrastructure supervisor and the operators. Subsequently, it’s the Railway Safety Agency that ensures compliance with this recommendation.

When analyzing a breakage of the rail or the joint between rails of various manufacturing dates and levels of hardness, the investigation additionally reaches ArcelorMittal, producer of the rails; the Galician Maquisaba, creator of welding; the Redalsa and Ayesa engineering firms, in control of visible evaluation, with ultrasounds and penetrating liquids of this materials on web site; the development firms in control of transforming the highway: Ferrovial, FCC, OHLA and Azvi, and the infrastructure supervisor Adif and its head engineering firm Ineco. In addition, the Iryo prepare and its upkeep by the producer Hitachi Rail are being analyzed, in addition to the communication protocols between the trains and the circulation management heart, and the notifications to well being authorities and emergency personnel.

Along with hiring exterior recommendation, the CIAF has invited technicians from the European Union Railway Agency (ERA) who’ve already had entry to among the proof of the accident to take part as observers.