REPLAY: Spanish Transport Minister gives press conference on train crash

We're going to go across to Madrid now, where Spain's transport minister is speaking after that train collision earlier today. This is the control center. This is where we will put out communications. This is the work that is undergoing here. This is where we have all information and data. So these are the conditions we can perform our job, and only these. I'll start now, for those behind, able to hear me, thank you, thank you for your help in conveying this message. Please be silent. This is a dark day. My first words are, of course, words of shock with regards to this morning's tragedy. I think my thoughts are with the families of those who have lost close ones this is the most one of the most challenging moment we are in i'd like to express to them my deepest condolences as you know at 8 53 a.m this morning there was an accident at the entrance of the the station of Orta, on the Sevilla line, on a high-speed train, from a train by Renfe and another by Rio, stopped at that moment on the tracks. I will give you all the information I currently have, but please understand that the information may be limited. It was gathered only this morning. I just heard about the accident just before 9, before a meeting at the Polytechnic University in Madrid, and I came straight to this center after that. So I went to the crisis center right after that to gather information about the accident and obtain information about the causes of this crash because this railway crash is a tragedy. Since this morning, we've been trying to understand the conditions of this accident. At about 9.40, I arrived at this very center. I met with all technical operators of this place, all those who had information at hand. and during the morning I oversaw a complete process, I reviewed the process of this accident, I reviewed audio documents with the control center and audio comms between trains, especially coming out of the one stopped on the tracks at about 8.30. We should be careful about the timing as things have evolved quickly, but about 8.30 the control system of the Orta station underwent a problem in the IT system. And there was an IT failure. This system should have detected an ongoing train. If I give you an example, there were six trains. This is only an example. There are some trains that go up to a certain speed. Those that are stopped and without the security system, the control center is able to control the railroad switches. There are procedures which I'll go over with you. A communication is put out between the control center with the trains that are stopped. And a decision is made at about 8.36 approximately that the train that crashed into the area should go forward. And this train should have stopped, and its velocity couldn't have been regulated properly because the aero train was stopped, there was a red sign, a traffic light that should have signaled the train to stop. The train had received the instruction at 8.36 to continue on its way. The train averaged 26 kilometers per hour and reached a speed unknown at this time close to 200 kilometers per hour and after 10 to 15 minutes it crashed into the aerial train stopped on its tracks near the station with the consequences we all now know many dead many injured these are the facts I'm I'm here to answer all of your questions. I'll try my best to bring all the information I can, if necessary. The casualty toll, 64 departed, 64 dead. We don't know if this is a final count as the emergency services are still working and they continue to send information over to us. So what I believe is that we need to bring to light all the causes of this accident. The IT failure that impacted the system can happen. This is a rare occurrence, but it did happen. This IT failure calls for security measures. The trains should have been stopped and communication should have been active between the train and the control trains in the control center. And thus, the decision to resume train operations is a decision that is up to the control center. Railroad switch operators decide to resume operations in quite unexplainable conditions. They did take that decision while there was a red signal at the order train station entrance. So we can say that trains shouldn't have continued on their way or at least not at a high speed. normally the trains should stay below 40 km per hour but there was a crash at a much higher speed, as you know. We should take into account that the automatic track system went out of service and this is where the control center should have stepped up. And I do recall that trains should have been stopped. The control center don't take a decision when it comes to moving trains. The control center verifies the situation of stopped trains and the decision was taken to resume operations for one of the train and to resume normal movement. There is no system that could have been set in motion because the control center steps into high gear when there is this failure. We haven't been able to speak with him, but do understand the gravity of this situation, the circumstances in which we are acting, and the responsibility of this situation. I don't think that the rest of the center has discussed with the person you mentioned. There will be an investigation, and I cannot tell you more at this time. I answered this question. You asked me how I feel. This is not about me. Obviously, it is hard to think about anything else than the families, what I think is not pertinent.