The European Prosecutor's Office warns of possible fraud in Adif contracts after the Adamuz and Urda accidents

The European Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation to see if any type of fraud or embezzlement could have been committed in the contracts that Adif awarded to several companies to improve the security and signaling systems of the Madrid-Seville high-speed train track and which could have failed in light of the accident in Urda (Toledo), which caused the death of 69 people.

For the public ministry, what is happening with railway accidents is of the highest priority and urgency, so after spending the entire weekend analyzing the documentation, this Tuesday the start of a new investigation was formally agreed and yesterday the central operational unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard went to the headquarters of the Railway Infrastructure Administrator (Adif), the State Railway Safety Agency (AESF) and the Court of Accounts in Spain to request documentation.

The audit report approved in December of last year regarding the management and control procedures implemented by Adif and Adif-Alta Velocity for the execution of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan was requested from this last body.

Sources from the European public ministry explain that they could have chosen the path of requesting the information but finally it was decided to make personal requests to expedite the case and show the interest and priority that this matter has after what happened.

It's not the first time he acts like this. Already with the Adamuz accident on January 18, in which 46 people died, the European Public Prosecutor's Office intervened ex officio, together with the UCO, to analyze how the maintenance contracts paid with European public funds have been executed.

While the documentation is being analyzed, these sources do not rule out that other measures will be taken, such as interrogations and even accusations. The choice of the UCO of the Civil Guard is not trivial either, but rather they are the same units that are behind the judicial investigations of the accidents.

In this way, with the two judges handling the Adamuz and Urda cases, work is carried out in parallel so as not to overlap proceedings and so that they can be complementary.

The objective of this new investigation is to seek contracts on the renewal and improvement of security, signaling and communications systems on the high-speed train line between Madrid-Seville. This investigation, therefore, is parallel to the one that is already open in the Orgaz court (Toledo) on the causes of the collision of the two trains and why it was not detected that one of them was stopped on the track.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office began this investigation ex officio after the accident on October 28, in search of the contracts for which the communications system was better owed. The announcement by the European Prosecutor's Office comes just two days after the European Commissioner for Transport, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, threw a dart at the Spanish Executive warning that the two train accidents on the same line in the space of less than a year is something “very worrying.”

In 2021, the board of directors of Adif Alta Velocity awarded three contracts for the renewal of the Madrid-Seville LAV (High Speed ​​Line), the first to enter service in Spain, for a global amount of 136.4 million euros financed with European Next Generation funds.

The purpose of the contracts was, among others, the implementation of the ERTMS system (the train protection system), and the renovation of the facilities. The main contract, awarded for an amount of 93.8 million euros, included the drafting of the project and the execution of the renovation works of the security facilities (signaling, train protection systems, falling object detectors, fixed telecommunications, etc.) of the LAV. It was awarded to Thales España GRP and had a total execution period of 52 months.

In addition, it contemplated the design and definition of the necessary security facilities, the drafting of the corresponding construction project and the execution of the works, tests and commissioning of said facilities. The contract included, among other points, actions in the train protection system (LZB).

These improvements included the installation of the ERTMS protection system on the entire Madrid-Seville line as well as the digital ASFA system (signals and automatic braking). With these European funds, the auxiliary detection systems, specifically the falling object detectors, had to be replaced with new ones that communicate with the Complementary Surveillance and Security Systems (SCVS).

Another of the contracts that will now be investigated is the one in charge of the train detection systems: track circuit, integration in the interlocking, as well as the maintenance assistance system, the civil works necessary for the laying of new cables, and installation of the new equipment.