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Chapter 5: The causes of the crash /1: The UTA 3736
On July 3rd 2006, the worst subway crash in Spain's History occured in Valencia. 43 people died and 47 were injured.
It overturned just before arriving in 'Jesus' station.
Testimonies say it slipped along several meters.
It is an atypical derailment.
A serious derailment, very atypical.
[Journalist] That day, very few people dared say what had happened.
Interestingly, the first person who spoke about speeding was the Government Subdelegate.
A speeding combined with the breakage of a wheel.
[Subdelegate] I gave a first explanation: the train had derailed due to speeding. This was later proven.
I was also told that the wheel piece, called 'bogie' was broken, which could have been a cause too.
The black box has made it clear, the cause was a speeding.
The subway reached 80 Km/h when leaving the station, and it continued at that speed.
The driver ignored a speed limit sign before the curve, and the train derailed.
[Newspaper editor] The Government was sure that it was due to speeding. They didn't say so roundly in the beginning...
...but they already pointed that the driver had died, and that there had been a speeding.
[Victims' Association] The focused so much on the speeding...
...that everybody was thinking about beacons, speed, breaking systems...
...people didn't focus on a possible breakage of the train or something like that.
From the beginning, technicians, unions, opposition politicians and journalists thought that there were more problems.
[Inquiry committee, 2006] Can't you tell us if the UTA 3736 has had any previous derailment?
You, the director of operations, don't know it there was a previous accident, or incident, call it what you want?
On June 20th? Can't you answer that? You, the director of operations, don't you about know?
I was looking for a picture in the archive to illustrate a news about the subway.
I asked for the paper archive we had in the newspaper and I found a spectacular picture of the UTA 3736...
...derailed in a town 7 or 8 years before the crash.
We had the image, the derailed UTA, the tangible proof that the subway company had lied to the Inquiry Committee.
[Subway driver] It had had 3 derailments. One colleague had an inexplicable derailment...
...it derailed alone, in a stretch without speed limit sign...
...the train however jumped when it reached the curve, and they never found out why. So it continued circulating.
I had a derailment myself, because the rim of a wheel broke.
And yet another colleague derailed with that train. There were 3 derailment in short time.
They told the judge it had not derailed, they gave a report for the proficient that said it had not derailed...
...and the subway company never clarified why they had lied.
Of course, if they lie about this, you start doubting about anything they tell you.
[Public TV] The remains of the wrecked wagons that you have seen...
...were brought to the garage of the subway company.
These are exclusive images of the first wagon of death, being shipped to the garage.
The two wrecked wagons lay on a siding, blackened.
Inside them there's still useful information.
Experts and technicians have already started working on the wagons. Their photos and material will be analysed.
The wagons are covered by a blue canvas. It's very difficult to enter them.
Only a few people have accessed them during this morning, to clean and...
'They are looking for it', they said. One month later, the Counselor of Transport said that the book of faults had disappeared.
'Thus was manipulated the subway crash.'
A consulting firm 'cooked' 62 answers to possible questions in the Inquiry Committee.
The book of faults and all its copies disappeared. The subway company prepared their workers for the questions about this issue.
[Inquiry Committee] The book of faults is part of the driver cabin, which is sealed by the Police. I can't tell you where it is.
[Subway company garage chief] A court order prevents us from access to the wrecked trains.
[Director of operations] The train is sealed at the garage. We can't tell either the book is in the train or if the Police took it. We don't have it.
[Head of Line 1] I don't know where it is. The cabin is sealed by the Police. I don't know where the book is.
They left the trains on a place where anyone could access. They proposed me to enter if I wanted.
I know about people who entered it.
Subway company security guards saw technicians enter the train sealed by the judge.
[Former head of security] The first days, the train was guarded by the Police, but only for a little time.
But it was later guarded by security staff of the subway company.
People were seen removing the canvas and entering the trains during the first days.
[Victims Association] But the enemy was at home. If there was someone interested in manipulating those evidences...
...it was the subway company itself.
But I pieced things together later. They told me that some people had entered...
...and I thought, 'well, they must need to do something there, I guess.'
'Were they company staff?' 'Yes.' 'OK, everything's under control'.
And later you find out, this has disappeared...
[Conversation between 2 subway executives, according to former security head, July 21st 2006]
A: We must have it all prepared for the trial. B: They will require us all kind of evidences and documents.
A: Are the pieces of the train checked? B: Yes, it's all superchecked, we can say it was a technical failure.
A: And the documentation about faults? B: We've already taken care of the book of faults. That's solved.
A: OK, OK. Very good.
[Inquiry Committee. Subway head of exploitation] It isn't obviously a fault on the wheels. That's my opinion.
Strange things are being said... There was no problem on the beacons, sorry, the pivots, nor on the suspension systems.
I've brought some pictures of the intact pivots, if you want to see them.
Such things shouldn't be said, as they cause doubts and provoke confusion.
[Report from garage] The bogie was rotated in the opposite direction to the trajectory, uprooted from the transom.
One pivot was on the ground besides the bogie, and the other was meters away from the train.
The staff did what we could. We repaired the UTAs, made reviews... But there weren't enough pieces, so we reused them.
We did what we could.
[Garage head] All the replacements are new. There are no second-hand replacements in the warehouse.
[Technical director] The stock of replacements is enough for the revisions and repairs.
[Document of indoctrination for company executives and technicians] Maintenance and replacement pieces aren't obsolete.
Replacements in the garage cover 99% of our needs, a very high figure.
I don't lack any replacement at all.
[Garage worker] Several trains were dismantled to mount others. Quite a few.
Driving monitors, dyagnosis monitors, video surveillance...
Even now, the last months that I worked there, a couple of trains lacked more than half of their pieces.
- Why did this happen? - Because there was no material.
We were experts on maintaining trains which should've not be circulating.
This trains can't be considered obsolete, since it still works in good condition.
The lifetime of these trains is around 30 years.
[Report about the model of the wrecked train - 2005] They are close to the end of their lifetime (...) obsolete technology...
It's difficult to obtain replacements (...) we consider it necessary to replace these trains (...) 2005, Signed: Head of exploitation.
When the trains slides, all the windows disappear. People fall on the windows, and disappear after the glass.
If the windows had been properly glued, they would have stayed attached, holding the travellers, and we probably wouldn't have 43 dead.
Did someone crop the glasses to make it easier to mount them?
You can remove the glasses without a lever nor any tool.
You can just kick a window corner, and the glass detaches. Not with the hand, but... It makes very little resistance.
If a heavy person falls on the window, it will detach, that's for sure.
We reported that windows would detach alone, nobody took any measures.
It was easier to change windows, but the train was less safe.
About the issue of the windows that has been discussed...
...the overturning of the train is an unforseeable risk. I don't think nobody has forseen it.
The worst subway crash in Spain's History. 0 accountable.
We still await answers. Sign the petition for a truthful inquiry into the crash.