"Continue moving". Spain releases recording of train drivers' negotiations with dispatchers before crash that killed 68 people

Spanish media have published recordings of conversations between train drivers and the dispatch center minutes before Wednesday morning's disaster, when a high-speed train traveling from Madrid to Seville crashed into a stationary train on the tracks. The collision killed at least 68 people and injured dozens, writes the BBC.

One of the trains, operated by the state-owned company Renfe, carried 397 passengers. Ahead of it on the same line was a train from the private company Iryo, carrying 147 passengers.

According to preliminary data, due to a malfunction in the automatic signaling system — a computer fault — all trains on the affected section were stopped.

However, according to the Spanish Minister of Transport, the Renfe train was later mistakenly ordered to continue moving.

Audio recordings of conversations between the dispatch center at Atocha station in Madrid and two train drivers were published by Spanish media, including El Pais and RTVE. From these, it can be concluded that one high-speed train was given permission to move, despite the fact that the second train, located approximately 25 km ahead, had stopped.

In one of the recordings, the dispatcher orders the driver of the Renfe AVE train to resume movement at normal speed after technical problems have been resolved.

"Disconnect and reconnect the LZB system. Resume movement. Then continue moving under the control of the BSL system [backup signaling system] in normal mode," the dispatcher tells the driver.

The driver clarifies: "At normal speed?" The dispatcher replies: "Yes."

The LZB signaling and safety system was originally developed in Germany for high-speed travel and is also used on high-speed railways in Spain.

As reported by El Pais, a large-scale modernization program is currently being implemented on the Madrid-Seville high-speed line, where the disaster occurred, replacing the LZB system with the more advanced European Train Control System (ERTMS).

At the same time, railway safety does not depend on any single technology, and the line where the tragedy occurred is equipped with other systems, the newspaper notes.

Bloqueo de Señalización Lateral or BSL is a backup block signaling system used in case of automatic signaling system or data transmission failure.

In another audio recording, the driver of another train — from the Iryo company — informs the dispatcher that communication with the train control system has been lost and the train is not moving.

"The train is stopped before the signal at Urda station," the driver tells the dispatcher. After an exchange of remarks, the dispatcher instructs to "continue moving" in normal mode.

According to a later recording, the Iryo driver again contacts the dispatch center and reports that he still cannot get the train moving.

"The [safety] system is unresponsive. So I am still stopped before the entry signal," he explains.

This recording indicates that the dispatcher was aware that the Iryo train remained stationary while the Renfe train approached it.

El Pais notes that the AVE train received instructions to resume movement at 8:36 — even before it was confirmed that the Iryo train had started to move away. Furthermore, the train was moving at normal speed, and not in accordance with the "proceed by sight" safety protocol, the observance of which could have prevented the accident.

Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente stated on Wednesday that the decision to instruct trains to resume movement without any speed restrictions was "inexplicable."

In connection with the disaster in Spain, authorities declared a three-day mourning period, which began on Thursday. Wednesday's accident was the most serious railway disaster in the country since 2013, when 80 people died on the outskirts of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.

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