WRITTEN QUESTION E-0838/03

by Raimon Obiols i Germà (PSE) to the Commission

(18 March 2003)

Subject: Safety on the Madrid-Lleida high speed train link

On 24 February 2003, the Ministry of Development opened Spain's second high speed rail link, joining Madrid and Lleida, with the first of a series of promotional trips, marred by a whole series of technical problems which led to the sudden sacking of the project's top technical manager and the immediate suspension of the programme of events designed to introduce the service to the public.

With regard to the problems detected particularly alarming are reports confirming that one of these trips was made when neither the security nor the control systems for the new lines had been completed and tested. Workmen were posted along various sections of the line using mobile phones to check the trains as they passed, since the signalling and safety systems, based on the European Rail Traffic Management System, had not yet been tested and passed. It has also been reported that the trains on the line, which should be travelling at over 350 km an hour, were able to travel only at 200 km an hour and even so, there were problems with vibration and defective air pressure.

All of this has led to a perfectly understandable concern that there may be major defects endangering the safety of potential users of a very necessary transport link, co-funded with European money, whose completion and entry into service are already behind schedule.

What control, monitoring and assessment measures can the Commission apply to guarantee maximum safety in the building and entry into service of the Madrid Lleida high speed rail link?

Does the Commission believe that all the signalling system and traffic control mechanisms on the line are ready for use?

How does the Commission view the fact that the Spanish Ministry of Development can decide on and carry out promotional trips under the conditions indicated above, with signalling and safety mechanisms not yet guaranteed as fully operational, and thus putting passengers at risk?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(30 April 2003)

The past track record of high-speed railway projects in Europe shows that in their huge majority these have been affected by technical, operational and/or logistic constrains. These often have an input to their planned start date for commercial service. This fact is rooted in the complexity of the task as well as the need to manage a myriad of contractors with quite different specialities (civil, electrical, signalling, software).

This manifold complexity always creates teething problems that are expectable and that require a fine-tuning of the whole installation (track, train and other ancillary equipment) once this is deemed complete, as a necessary condition for its opening-up to commercial exploitation. Based on past experience such a tuning requires field-testing to iron-out not only the technical but also the operational processes that underpin the commercial operation. It is up to the national safety authorities, and not to the Commission to ascertain that such principles are fully adhered to.

Regarding the signalling solution selected for the Madrid-Lleida project this is based on a combination of conventional (sideline signals) and train protection systems the latter including an overlay of both the national Federation of French motorway and toll facility companies (ASFA) and the European ERTMS systems.