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Spanish engineer on cell phone at time of derailment
“let the call go until after the train was at a safe speed…”
In that theme, might I report that at the SP training center/simulator, we instructors randomly called on the simulated radio the trainee at the most inconvenient time, hoping the trainee kept running good ol’ SP8799 and kept train handling first, radio (today call it text, cell, even downloads) way low in priorities.
Few failed the test but experience, Division officers, training officers asks why wouldn’t they?
Where the hell was the conductor and why wasn’t he contacted on his company phone? That’s the way we do it on Amtrak; then the conductor talks to the engineer. Yes, we do stop and discuss the situation if necessary; you know, the safest course of action.
Believe the operating crew is solely the guy or gal in the cab. Other on board (in passenger car) personnel wave off from the platform for the train to depart but otherwise are not in the loop as far as operation in much of Europe. Might not be whole story but appears as such from my personal observation on many, many trains in Europe. Welcome corrections. Why I wonder is the PTC not installed from about 7 miles from the station where the train was headed? Confusing and deadly!
The BBC report noted sounds of the engineer “shuffling papers.” What happened to “read and understand”, and how important was it for the dispatcher to call the engineer with a train approaching a junction, or for the engineer to let the call go until after the train was at a safe speed for the junction?
Which is why it is never a good idea to be texting or yapping on the phone, no matter what you are driving.
Meanwhile, this is Spain, in Europe, where they don’t do things as it is done in North America. If they choose to ignore common sense, then let them. Eventually they will figure it out, or not. On the other hand, most Americans ignore common sense when they are driving, no matter how many laws are passed banning electronic devices.
Madrid’s “El Pais” newspaper reports the following today. The details are somewhat different from the above story. (Translation mine): ~The train’s conductor called the engineer [on a RENFE corporate phone] two minutes before the accident, according to the investigation, advising him that when entering the station of Pontedueme [still 90 minutes ahead from Santiago de Compostela, the next station stop] the train will use the track nearest the station to make it easier for a family with children to detrain. He [the conductor] made the call although the use of cell phones is prohibited by engineers to avoid fatal distractions. [Engineers may use RENFE] corporate phones only in emergencies.~
Up until now, all of the available evidence pointed to the “driver” of the train as the culprit in the wreck. Now, however, we find that the situation may have been more complicated with a “phone call” from a RENFE official to the engineer allegedly placed as the train was transiting from a computer-controlled section of the RR to a manually-controlled section as the train approached the permanent speed restriction of the curve. If the two facts coincided, it may be the engineer was sufficiently distracted, momentarily lost situational awareness, and didn’t realize that he was back in control of his train instead of the computer. This might help to explain why he delayed in applying the brakes. In effect, RENFE may have been partially complicit in causing the wreck.
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He had the option not to answer the phone.
But lets see what the call was really about, why would the Driver need to know which platform they are using 90 minutes in advance???He has no control over that.
He had the option not to answer the phone.
But lets see what the call was really about, why would the Driver need to know which platform they are using 90 minutes in advance???He has no control over that.
I agree with David Benton. I’ve heard an AMTRAK conductor ask the dispatcher for a specific station track for a wheelchair passenger. He made sure the engineer copied, but the station in question was the next stop. The Spanish newspaper further reported that the engineer and conductor were still on the same call at the moment of derailment. In their initial statements to police, the paper said, both men denied having talked on the phone then. Later, when the black box showed otherwise, they admitted to it. The call was further confirmed by phone records, the article said. Personally, while it’s true that the engineer could/should have ignored the call, he might have thought it was an emergency. In RENFE cabs, the cell phones are reserved for emergency use. It’s high irony: a badly timed call to ensure a family’s safety ends in so many deaths and injuries.
A whole bunch of “woulda, coulda, shoulda,” going on in the aftermath of this tragedy.
Bad judgment happens, hopefully at seldom times.
I’m sure the “driver” will be haunted for the rest of his life as to what he shoulda done.