Renfe and Adif defend themselves against accusations that they may be responsible for the measurement error. Trains ordered in 2020 for the metric gauge network (formerly Feve). they excuse themselves. And although they categorically deny that they are facing this scandal abroad, it can be deduced from their close circles that they “look” at each other with an accusatory expression.
Two publicly traded companies try to absolve themselves of responsibility for a mistake they’ve made. Trains required for CAF to pass through some existing tunnels in Cantabria, Galicia and Asturiasby not complying with the minimum distances to the walls and ceilings of underground passages required by applicable railway safety regulations. Behind the official silence on the causes and ultimate source of errors, two conflicting versions. Renfe relates the occurrence of failures to “official” measurements referring to the width and height of tunnels: those documented by Adif. The railway manager’s refers directly to the contract specifications drawn up by Renfe, which contain the wrong measures.
The “anger” of Renfe and Adif leaders draws attentionand comparable to that of confused government leaders who fear the negative consequences of the next elections. If everyone involved agrees on one thing, then the evil can be even greater, because malfunctions were detected during the design phase of the prototypeBefore production of 31 ordered units begins, 11 of which can be sent to Asturias.
How does Renfe explain the error in the dimensions of future Feve trains? “We don’t measure the tunnels, we limit ourselves to collecting the measurements of the company that owns the infrastructure and include them in the contract specification,” sources from the operator said. The problem is that the ‘official’ measurements of the tunnels do not correspond to reality,” he said. Because? The same sources suggested that this might be the reason. the distance of the tracks to the tunnels changes when repairs or renovations are carried out. “In some cases, for example when regenerating ballast, the distance to the ceiling is reduced,” they explained.
But there is another possible reason. Safety regulations not only change over time, they are different for trains entering service and for newly built trains. They are more demanding of new ones: Tunnels have to leave more distance from their walls and ceilings. “It’s not that the ordered trains couldn’t fit in the tunnels, that’s an exaggeration.however, they will not meet the minimum required distance to the vault,” another Renfe source explained.
Adif’s version is different: The measures included in the specification for the sequencing of trains to the CAF were not correct. “And we have absolutely nothing to do with that,” said a person in charge of the railway administration, though he insisted that “there is no problem with Renfe.” According to Adif, the measures on their list are “the real ones”.
Transport Minister Raquel Sánchez will have to decide which of the two statements is more accurate, but according to the latest statements she made in Cantabria this Saturday, it looks like there will be layoffs at the two companies to settle the issue for both governments. As Asturias and Cantabria, several opposition politicians and representatives of user groups have described it as “an enormous incompetent business”; first of all, delivery will be delayed for two to three years some convoys that should already be in circulation.
For the time being, Raquel Sánchez has announced that a commission of inquiry, which she prefers to call the “working group”, will soon be established, inviting the heads of Cantabrian, Miguel Ángel Revilla and Asturian, Adrián Barbón to participate.
Once the problem is known – CAF noticed the error in the measurements – now it’s time to find a solution. In principle, the Ministry intends to use what it calls the “comparative method”. take measurements of the largest train currently in service and passing through the tunnels and replicate them for future convoys.
The glitch in implementing this solution is that Spanish safety regulations require new trains to have longer distances than tunnels. Translation: Those currently in service meet the minimum distance standard, but new ones with the same dimensions do not. The output chosen by the ministry is to change the regulations so that the required distances for future trains are the same as for existing trains.
Transport stresses that the decision on the size of the tunnels does not mean “any public expenditure”
The error in the definition of the dimensions of the trains commissioned in 2020 for the metric line network (formerly Feve) did not require “any public expenditure” as it was detected “at the design stage” before construction had yet begun. manufacturing, the Ministry of Transport stressed yesterday. “So what the bug implies is a redesign that assumes a delay in production,” said the department headed by Raquel Sánchez.
The Ministry recorded that “problems were identified while the process was still in the very early stages of the design phase, it was not even developed enough to have a ‘on paper’ definition,” it was recorded as “manufacturing of trains”. Despite tunnels, a singular design requiring a ‘special design’ to guarantee that trains can operate on metric lines. He added that it has implemented the necessary mechanisms to correct the non-emergency error because the situation is smaller in size, but without losing the benefits”. For this, studies are being carried out to apply the so-called “comparative method” in the design of the train, which is “not a customary method in the regulation, but justified in this unique situation”. This method involves duplicating the dimensions of the largest train currently running on the Feve lines.
The Ministry reminded that it will lead a working group to monitor this work, inviting the Government of Cantabria and Asturias to participate. Additionally, it has commissioned an internal audit of the process and will seek to “minimize the delay in the delivery of trains”, which ministry leaders estimate to be between two and three years. Likewise, Transportes is working with the contracted CAF “so that the design phase can be completed this summer so that the production time can be accelerated later”.
The ministry’s statements do not seem to have satisfied the notables of the Principality yet. Thus, president Adrián Barbón expressed his “total and absolute demand” to know “where the responsibility comes from” and to find out “who is behind this erroneous decision”. Likewise, he demanded that the production of trains be accelerated and that the new delivery conditions be known. “We were actually told that there was a delay in production, but the real reason was not disclosed to us,” complained Barbón, reiterating the view that what happened at the contract seemed to him “a truly unacceptable failure”.
“We thought it had something to do with the Avril train, operational issues, contracts, or materials (problems similar to the ones it affected), but that might be because the tunnels we’ve always had are so narrow..life…” he said.
He stressed that the minister contacted both himself and Revilla and that they both agreed to “go hand in hand” on this issue, demanding “refining of responsibilities and making firm and clear organizational decisions to see who is responsible for this shitty work that we cannot accept”. . Heads must be spinning here,” he added. He emphasized that the manufacturing process of the trains has not started, in line with the Ministry.
Minister of Rural Environment and Regional Integration Alejandro Calvo described the “indecision in the search for a solution” to the error in the dimensions of the Feve trains as “unbearable”. The design of the prototype was known, and indeed this was something that was discussed during the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Isabel Pardo de Vera) two weeks ago,” he said.
Calvo justified the “level of severity” of his criticisms and of Barbón’s: “It is what corresponds.” The minister stressed that the investment in Asturias suburban infrastructure should be completed in three years, but “before that the machines need to be renewed; we cannot be with trains that have not been renewed for forty years”.
The head of Rural Affairs applauded the fact that the Government of Pedro Sánchez “finally gained momentum in the neighborhood”. However, in the face of a situation such as the error in the measurements of the trains, he said, “There is no room for anything other than the responsibility declared by the Minister, the responsibilities should be removed.”
Regarding trains, Transportes explained that the process continues from the moment a train is put into production (in this case in June 2020) until the first train is ready to run on the tracks (scheduled this year). goes through a number of stages. “The first is the design, in which the manufacturer determines how the train will be “on paper”, taking into account the conditions it must provide for the line in which it is produced and the benefits it wishes to achieve. there is”, the Ministry noted.
Once the train is described on paper, a single ‘prototype’ train is produced, with which begins the testing phase, which serves to verify the train’s compliance with all technical and safety requirements. “At these first two stages, the normal thing is that adjustments have to be made in the design and even on metric-width lines where there are lots of singularities,” Transport said. Finally, if the prototype tests pass satisfactorily, the production phase of all trains included in the contract, in this case 31 units, begins.