The audios of the Atocha tunnel accident: “The train has drifted throughout the tunnel and was going to crash into the passenger train”

An audio message sent by a worker at the Adif control center in Madrid through his mobile phone shows the seriousness of the incident that last weekend paralyzed the circulation of high-speed trains between Madrid and the eastern corridor. Sources familiar with the incident and who validate the authenticity of the audio to which EL MUNDO has had access and which Vozpopuli has advanced, indicate that, despite what the worker narrates, At no time was any traveler in danger.. Specifically, the technician goes so far as to say in his audio that “the train (which ended up derailed) was drifting throughout the tunnel and was going to collide with the passenger train that was in the botanical garden.”

“The train has passed through the needles of the Botanical Garden which are at 50 kilometers per hour at 100 km/h or 200 km/h and has derailed with the two mechanics inside,” says the worker.

To understand this image, it is necessary to take into account that the tunnel that connects the Atocha and Chamartín stations measures 7.3 kilometers and runs under the Botanical Garden, the Puerta de Alcalá, Goya Street… to the north of the capital overcoming a difference in altitude of about 100 meters with slopes that reach 30%, especially at the end of the route.

What happened is that a tractor train was transporting a damaged Alstom from La Sagra (Toledo) to the Fuencarral workshops and when it practically reached the end of the journey in the tunnel, both became uncoupled. According to the audio, the cause could be due to the negligence of one of the two Alstom mechanics who were on the damaged train. “Then they called one of the mechanics and the guy said: dammit, I screwed up, I screwed up, they’re going to fire me!” is heard in the audio.