One person has died, five have been seriously injured and another thirty have been treated with various considerations this Tuesday afternoon in the accident of a Rodalies train on line R4 between Gelida and Sant Sadurní, near Barcelona. Renfe has decided to suspend all Rodalies services at least until Wednesday after 9:30 a.m., when the state of all the tracks has been assessed.
According to information from the Government, the commuter convoy would have collided after a retaining wall fell onto the tracks, due to the accumulation of rain. There were 37 passengers on the train and all of them have already been evacuated. The people traveling in the first car have received the worst consequence of the frontal impact, as confirmed by Claudi Gallardo, head of intervention at Bombers.
The Emergency Medical Service has sent 37 ambulance crews and 38 firefighters, who have had to free a person trapped between the iron. The injured have been transferred to the Moisès Broggi, Bellvitge and Vilafranca hospitals. The point of care for relatives of the victims is in the civic center of the Casablanca urbanization, on 2 Moreres Street in the town of Subirats. They have also provided an information telephone number: 900 101 660.
The Minister of Territory, Silvia Paneque, has confirmed that all Rodalies trains have been suspended, after the drivers demanded a total stop “until further notice” following the derailments due to the storm. According to Paneque, during the night and early morning “white marches” will be carried out, that is, reconnaissance routes, on all lines of the Cercanías system.
It will therefore be in the morning when the coordination center of the railway authorities will be convened to carry out an analysis of these reconnaissance routes. “It will be in light of this data when it will be decided when to resume the service, which will not be reactivated until it is safe,” insisted Paneque, who has estimated that this meeting will be held around 9:30 a.m.
In this way, on Wednesday morning no Rodalies service will be carried out throughout Catalonia until it is resumed, which will not be in any case before 9:30 am. The councilor has assured that reinforcements by road are planned.
From the judicial sphere it has been reported that the titular judge of Square 3 of the Court of Instance of Vilafranca del Penedès, acting as guard, has traveled, directing the judicial commission, to the scene of the accident to proceed to the removal of the body of the fatal victim located at the scene of the accident and “obtain initial information about the events, which remain under judicial investigation.”
After learning about the accident, the Ministers of the Interior and Territory, Núria Parlon and Sílvia Paneque, traveled to the area, from where they offered attention to the media. A message has also been sent from the Presidency in which they assure that President Salvador Illa, convalescent and admitted to the hospital after suffering from osteomyelitis, is following the news of the accident in coordination with his replacement for these days, Minister Albert Dalmau.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has also stated that he is “following the event in Rodalies very closely” and has shown in a message his “affection and solidarity” with the victims.
The leader of the opposition, Albert Núñez Feijóo, has written a message in which he has assured: “This is too much. I am very sorry for the death of another train driver in the derailment of a train in Gelida (Barcelona), and I wish the recovery of the injured people. I have just conveyed to Salvador Illa our concern and our support for the emergency services.”
For their part, the Mossos d’Esquadra have reported that they are collaborating with the management of the emergency and demand that the population not approach the area and follow the instructions of the agents and emergency services.
According to the first indications, the heavy rains recorded this Tuesday along the entire Catalan coast would have caused rocks or a wall to fall, which would have fallen onto the road. In fact, Gelida’s is not the only problem that has been recorded in Rodalies. Between Tordera and Maçanet-Massanes, in the province of Girona, there has also been a derailment due to a rock on the track. About ten people were traveling in the convoy and there were no injuries.
The east storm has caused numerous incidents throughout the day in Catalonia. The Firefighters have had to carry out more than 1,200 services, especially in the Girona area, where the rains have forced the suspension of classes and caused road closures, some rivers overflowing and rough seas along the coast.
Before the Rodalies crash in Gelida, the most serious incident occurred early in the morning, when the water of a stream swept away a man who was trying to cross it with his car. Firefighters have located the vehicle after several hours of searching, but for now they are still trying to find the victim.
Source: www.eldiario.es
