Nine years of pain and anger for the victims of the Alvia train accident

• 'Caso Alvia' The victims of the Alvia, against José Blanco and Ana Pastor on the eighth anniversary of the accident: "Why don't you already assume your responsibility

• The victims The deceased of the train accident in Santiago

The curve of

three kilometers from

turns nine years old as a silent witness to the most serious railway tragedy of democracy.

On July 24, 2013, an Alvia train derailed leaving 80 dead and 145 injured and, since then, tirelessly, the victims and relatives of the deceased return every year to remember it.

His insistence prevents the accident from falling into oblivion, but, until now, he has not achieved the goal they have pursued since mourning gave way to rage: "Let justice be done."

Today they will repeat their pilgrimage in the hope of beginning to see that goal fulfilled.

It will be the last anniversary before the case goes to trial.

The relief that the truth will be known, however, will not be complete.

Endorsing

's phrase that "slow justice is not justice", they say that the judicial delay prevents them from turning the page when knowing the causes of the derailment.

"Some victims and relatives have died over the years, for them there will never be justice," laments

the president of the majority association of those affected,

It will be a partial relief because not everyone will be able to see it and also because, although on the next anniversary the case will be sentenced, it will not answer all your questions.

"Next year we will have a sentence but we don't know if it is justice," says Domínguez, who sees in the delays of a nine-year judicial investigation "a delay that is not accidental" for which "different State institutions are responsible."

They criticize the "concealment and delay" in the delivery of documents to the court by the

and the agencies

and

the change of judge in the middle of the investigation despite their request to the General Council of the Judiciary, the "inaction » of the first prosecutor of the case or that the

imposed inexperienced experts who «delayed and plagiarized other reports».

The trial is scheduled to start on October 5 in the Criminal Court number 2 of Santiago and until June 2023 it will elucidate criminal and civil responsibilities.

It will take place in the

to adapt to the space needs of a process with 195 accusations in which the declaration of 494 witnesses, 193 experts and 21 expert witnesses is expected.

Concentration of the victims in front of the headquarters of the judicial power.B.DÍAZ

On the bench will sit the driver who was driving the train,

and the former director of Adif Traffic Safety

who held the position at the time the line was put into operation.

The Prosecutor's Office asks that each one be sentenced to four years in prison as responsible for 80 crimes of homicide due to serious professional negligence, 145 crimes of injuries and one of damages.

Renfe and Adif insurers must respond to civil responsibilities.

The prosecutor in the case,

maintains that the driver was traveling at 199 kilometers per hour in a section near the A Grandeira curve when he answered a call from the auditor to the corporate mobile phone, spoke for 100 seconds and did not realize that he should reduce speed, as indicated by the markers on the track and the train speed chart, down to 80 kilometers per hour.

"He neglected the minimum attention of his professional duties" and only activated the service braking system and the emergency braking system when he was very close to the curve, so that he managed to reduce the speed to 179.38 kilometers per hour, but it was insufficient to prevent the train from derailing.

De Cortabitarte maintains that "he breached the duty he held due to his status within Adif" and that "the tragic accident would not have happened" if "he had assessed and managed the risk of speeding on the accident section."

He maintains that he had to guarantee that the line was safe, but “it was not”, but rather “it was highly vulnerable” to human error due to the significant change in speed in the curve.

The victims insist that on July 24 "not only did the train derail", but also Justice, the Government, politicians and institutions.

With the vindictive tone that characterizes them, they warn: «We will not stop fighting until the end so that justice is done, the whole truth is known, responsibilities are assumed and we are asked for forgiveness for the treatment received».

They arrive at this anniversary with the thorn stuck that the Government did not investigate thoroughly.

The

(CIAF) issued a report in which it concluded that the only cause was the train driver's speeding, but the

to which they appealed through the BNG MEP

recriminates to Spain that it did not carry out an independent investigation adjusted to European regulations and in 2016 it urged to carry out a new one.

He never did and they ended up before the Contentious Administrative Chamber of

which in June partially upheld his request and forced the CIAF to meet and process, analyze and resolve that independent analysis "according to law".

"It says very little about our institutions that this investigation has not yet been launched," criticize those affected, who distribute political blame between socialists and popular.

(PSOE) was Minister of Public Works

, the original project for the accident line was changed and the security system was removed in the most dangerous section.

And that, being

(PP) responsible, an independent investigation and aid to justice was promised in parliament, but several orders pointed out the lack of collaboration of Fomento, Renfe and Adif.

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