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[–] 12 points 22 hours ago (9 children)

What are the odds of two high speed deadly collisions in a single year in a single country? I'm not convinced this is an infrastructure issue, or even a training issue, it could be the result of a cyber attack. I hope they are taking that possibility seriously.

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  • [–] 32 points 19 hours ago (1 child)

    At least the causes were very different. The Adamuz accident took place because of a rail breaking. And it broke in a way that would be difficult to cause using explosives or tools, but rather simply because of not having been checked often enough.

    This one was the LZB train protection system's computers crashing, which caused 8 trains to be stopped by the protection system. The train dispatcher then did not follow the procedure for ordering the trains to return running: They were supposed to drive their first couple of kilometres with a reduced speed, but they were ordered to proceed at full speed. 7 did, 1 stayed still. And then one of the seven moving trains collided at a very high speed with the one that was standing. The LZB computers crashing is apparently a relatively common occurrence, and happens in the home country of the LZB system, Germany, as well. It could have been a "foreign entity" (heh, guess which one), but actually there's good reason to believe it was a "regular" software mishap. However, what is sure is that the resulting disaster took place because of dispatcher error, and that cannot have been because of any foreign influence.

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  • [–] 1 point 12 minutes ago*

    Apparently the crashing driver blindly followed the order of retaking full speed with no regards to a red light that should have been denoting an occupied track, so either two humans failed in a row or the protocols are severly flawed. Investigations must clarify this.

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  • [–] 3 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

    Low, but not zero. Failures happen, and disaster news gets clicks, so it gets reported on more widely.

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  • [–] -2 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

    Exactly. What's the point of reporting this outside of Spain, other than generating clicks and engagement? I think it's irresponsible, makes people wary of travelling by train. Meanwhile more people die on the Spanish roads every 2 weeks (daily in the US).

    https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/spain-road-safety.pdf

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year

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