Salvador Galve, järnvägsexpert: "När jag åker från Zaragoza till Barcelona åker jag bil"

This is how forceful this Wednesday was Salvador Galve, dean of the Official College of Industrial Engineers of Aragon and La Rioja and president of the Railway Commission of the Council of Colleges of Industrial Engineers of Spain. Och under sitt framträdande i undersökningskommissionen om järnvägsnätets tillstånd erkänner Galve att han föredrar bilen framför tåget.

Misstro. Galve är en av landets ledande specialister inom järnvägsinfrastruktur. That he is precisely the one who admits that he avoids the train to avoid the risk of being late for a work meeting portrays, better than any statistic, the distrust generated today by delays and incidents on the AVE.

I detalj. Galve himself has explained the reason for this custom: "When I go to Barcelona from Zaragoza and have a meeting, I go by car. When I go to Madrid I try to go by train because it usually arrives, but the majority of managers who go from Zaragoza go by car because they don't know when they are going to arrive," he declared before the Upper House.

Enligt experten har detta sätt att agera normaliserats bland proffs som behöver hålla scheman. "Vi börjar vänja oss vid" händelserna, erkände han, även om han också vidhåller att "det är ett faktum, vi ska inte slita våra kläder." In Xataka Switzerland and Italy they have just solved a problem that had been unsolved for decades: putting a hydrogen train on a narrow track without safety guarantees. Trots detta erkännande har Galve undvikit att larma om systemets säkerhet. På frågan om nätet kan anses pålitligt trots misslyckandena, insisterade han på att det inte finns nollrisk i något transportsystem. "Du minimerar risken men du kan inte garantera 100% säkerhet", fortsatte han.

Vad ligger bakom. Galves vittnesmål kommer mitt i en undersökning av järnvägssystemet efter urspårningarna av Adamuz (Córdoba) och Gelida (Barcelona). In his appearance, which lasted almost four hours, according to Telemadrid, the engineer pointed out as one of the underlying causes the separation between Adif, the infrastructure manager, and Renfe, the train operator, decided in Spain in 2005 by European demand.

Enligt hans mening togs den uppdelningen för långt. "Det är ingen mening att skilja så mycket åt, inget land har gjort det", sa han. That is why he has demanded the creation of a single technical body that coordinates both companies before the decisions reach the political level of the Ministry of Transport, a figure that he himself has described, according to Diario Córdoba, as "a kind of orchestra director of the railway system, who would make Renfe and Adif sound good and who would not be subject to political ups and downs." I Xataka Talgos Avril-tåg har Renfe varit en mardröm. En som kommer att kosta ytterligare 132 miljoner euro.

Investeringen, i rampljuset. Galve har också ifrågasatt hur de pengar som anslagits till järnvägen fördelas. Asked if Spain invests well in its network, he answered directly "no", according to Diario Córdoba, pointing out that the political weight of each autonomous community determines which lines receive more budget.

As an example, he cited the 3.5 billion euros allocated to the new High Speed ​​line between Murcia and Almería, an investment that, in his opinion, could yield more if it were dedicated to reinforcing the existing network in the country. Regarding maintenance, he has warned that the lack of resources is reflected in the constant increase in temporary speed limitations (LTV), a mechanism that line managers activate as a preventive measure when they detect incidents that do not require a total closure. I Xataka Den största japanska järnvägsdrömmen är ett tåg som skulle förbinda Madrid och Barcelona på 75 minuter i 600 km/h.

Det är också din största mardröm.

Vad nu. Galve has asked that the Senate commission request a "proper audit" of the real state of the network, similar to the one commissioned in 2014 after the Angrois accident, to determine with objective data whether the system needs a structural review. The request also coincides with that demanded by the Adamuz Derailment Victims Association, which this Wednesday demanded from the Ministry of Transport and Adif the immediate paralysis of all railway traffic until the detection of track breaks in real time is guaranteed, as reported by Telemadrid.

Galve har dock klargjort att denna omedelbara detekteringsteknik "inte existerar just nu" i något järnvägssystem. I Xataka | Switzerland installed the world's first railway solar plant: a year later, it has been such a success that its neighbors are already asking about it The news Salvador Galve, railway expert: "When I go from Zaragoza to Barcelona, ​​I go by car" was originally published in Xataka by Antonio Vallejo.