Iryo's CEO, Fabrizio Favara, explained in the Senate that a train without connection to the ground signal comes to a halt and takes time to resume service. The appearance took place 23 days before the railway accident in Toledo.
According to vozpopuli.com, Fabrizio Favara, CEO of Iryo, described in the Senate a specific scenario: when the train loses communication with the ground signal, the LZB system immobilises it. The appearance took place on October 5, 23 days before the railway accident in Toledo, where an Iryo train was stopped on the track and was hit from behind by a Renfe convoy.
“Every time the train's signal disconnects from the ground signal, the train stops. It cannot move and takes quite a while to reconnect and start service again.”
Favara before the investigation committee on the state of the railway network. The executive did not classify the LZB as an unsafe system, but rather as a mechanism that is “safe, but quite old.” His warning focused on the time it takes for the train to regain connection and resume operation.
The most frequent incidents reported by Iryo drivers on the Madrid-Sevilla line during 2025 were related to the LZB, as the CEO explained to a senator from the Mixed Group. On the Madrid-Barcelona line, most communications from the company's drivers were concentrated.
Favara detailed that, in the event of an anomaly, the driver must notify the Adif Traffic Regulation Centre. However, Iryo does not necessarily receive information about subsequent actions or how the problem is resolved. When asked if Adif informs about the measures taken, he replied: “No, this is not provided for in the rules we have.”
The CEO maintained that it is up to Adif to assess the risks of the infrastructure and decide on corrective measures, while operators must communicate the incidents they detect. The investigation into the Toledo accident will have to determine what happened at each of those links and why the stopped train was hit by another convoy.
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