Atocha recording captures instruction to restart AVE after system failure
EL PAÍS says the order to resume normal running departed from the restricted-speed procedure required before Spain's fatal rail collision.
SpainWhy this story? One of EL PAÍS's most watched videos since yesterday, with 102,819 views.
EL PAÍS: A Spanish daily newspaper published since 1976, owned by the PRISA group. 3.4M subscribers and 2.4B views.
El controlador de Atocha, al maquinista del AVE: “Reanude con marcha normal” | EL PAÍS
The AVE driver reports a transmission fault. Atocha control replies that the Urda control installation has gone down. After discussion in the control room, the driver receives a formal instruction: disconnect and reconnect the LZB train-protection system, then resume normal running under BSL.
Spain's newspaper EL PAÍS has published the radio exchange between the driver of AVE 2080 and the Atocha control center operated by Adif, the state-owned manager of most Spanish railway infrastructure. The recording documents the instruction given before the fatal collision involving an AVE and a stationary Iryo train near Urda.
The exchange begins with the driver's fault report. Background voices discuss which procedure to apply, and the controller prepares a formal recorded instruction, issued at 08:36. Near the end, the controller dictates the system restart and authorization to proceed.
In its accompanying account, the newspaper says the AVE was about 25 kilometers behind the Iryo when it received that authorization. It argues that the applicable procedure instead required running on sight, with a speed limit of 40 kilometers per hour, and says the controller did not first establish that the track ahead was clear.
The newspaper also reports that the Iryo driver subsequently told control she remained stopped because she could not restart with LZB. According to that account, no warning to brake reached the following AVE even then.
The published recording ends with the AVE driver repeating the normal-running instruction back to control and acknowledging it.
Spain’s state-owned manager of most railway infrastructure, including tracks, signalling and stations. It operates under the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility.
More on Wikipedia ›A private high-speed rail operator in Spain, majority-owned by Italy’s state railway company Trenitalia. Iryo is the brand used by Intermodalidad de Levante (ILSA).
More on Wikipedia ›Published on Trari
Where next?
- Channel
- EL PAÍS
- Subscribers
- 3,380,000
- Channel views, pace per day
- 3,562,526
- Video published
- October 28, 2026
- Video views so far
- 207,263 (2 days online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 102,807 (on a normal day: 240,500)
The numbers
The recording drew about 103,000 views since yesterday.
