Pedro Marco de la Peña, Adif president, rejected today a Guardia Civil report suggesting a rail break detected 22 hours before the January 18 Adamuz accident. Marco stated that track circuits are unreliable for detecting breaks and the report misinterprets technical data. Adif defends its maintenance and denies negligence.
Pedro Marco de la Peña, Adif president, addressed on April 13 a Guardia Civil report sent on March 27 to the Montoro judge. The police document states that Adif's systems detected a half-volt tension drop at 21:46 on January 17 at kilometer 318.681 on the Madrid-Sevilla line, consistent with a rail break causing the Iryo train derailment and collision with an Alvia, killing 46 people.
Marco stated that "track circuits are not a reliable method for detecting rail breaks, as international experts say". He stressed no real-time break detection system exists and the tension drop, below the 0.780-volt alarm threshold, triggered no alert as the system locates trains, not anomalies. "There is such a level of technicality that it is clearly not well interpreted," he added.
Adif's president questioned the report's accuracy on Hitachi's statements, the system manufacturer, which verbally says it misrepresents their testimony. He defended the company's actions: "We have safeguarded all materials and admit manipulating them, but with judicial authorization". He denies maintenance failures and recalls government pledges to raise track spending above 1.800 million euros annually and hire 3,650 more workers.
Meanwhile, Adamuz victims call protests in Madrid demanding better rail safety. The investigation awaits expert reports.
