Investigation into the cause of the Adamuz disaster, which left 45 dead and 152 injured, now officially points to the state of the tracks.
The Railway Accident Investigation Commission (CIAF) considers that the rail on which the train was travelling was “fractured.” The “notches on the wheels and the deformation observed in the rail are consistent with the fact that the rail was fractured,” states their preliminary report.
It went on to consider that, “with the information available at this time,” the rail fracture “occurred prior to the passage of the train and, therefore, prior to the derailment.”
Basically, experts state that the notches in the wheel were created by a ‘step’ in the track where the fractured occurred, forming a small gap. With the full weight of the train on that section of rail would cause one side of the fracture to sink slightly, so that the wheel would hit the section after the fracture.
Importantly for the investigation, the notches are present only on the wheels of the odd-numbered axles; the first wheel of each bogie received the impact from the head of the fractured rail. This impact force the other side of the fracture down, too, so that the following wheel in the boogies doesn’t suffer the same blow as the train is travelling at around 200 kph.
The wheels on the same side of carriages two, three and four, have identical marks but the marks on carriage five are further along the wheel surface, meaning perhaps the rail has actually shifted. Carriage six was the first one to leave the rails.
It must be emphasised that this is a preliminary conclusion.
Editorial: International interest has died down, so we are now covering this fatal train accident.
(News: Adamuz, Cordoba, Andalucia)
Keywords: Rail Causes Train Derailment, Adamamuz, CIAF, Preliminary Investigation
news, andalucia, cordoba, adamuz, rail causes train derailment, adamamuz, ciaf, preliminary investigation
You put your faith in those that work. Under supervision on motorway and railway infrastructure. Of course all works should be signed off as safe. Before any traffic is allowed on it. I worked as a Site Safety Controller for 4 years. While the workers do their job. It still has to seen to be safe. We put our trust into the organisations that do the work.
On another matter. It seems to have gone very quite with regard to the not so perfect aircraft parts. That were being sold as new. You might live through a motorway or rail incident. Good luck with aircraft.