Puente puts LZB incidents within European norms
Transport and Sustainable Mobility Minister Óscar Puente said on Friday that the LZB railway safety system had logged 170 incidents during 2026. He argued that the total falls inside the range considered ordinary in Europe and noted that the figures have held steady across the past six or seven years.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6]
The minister acknowledged that the number may surprise people without technical expertise, but he placed it within normal European operating levels. He also said the 2026 count sits below the average recorded in the two preceding years, describing annual incidents as typically falling between 150 and 200.[S1]
Cause of communication loss still unknown
Puente said authorities do not yet know what triggered the communication failure with the LZB system. They are waiting for Hitachi to receive permission to extract the system's records so that the data can be examined.[S1]
The minister stressed that such failures are not rare and that the system is built to cope with them, with the scenario covered in the regulations. He made the remarks at his second press conference since two high-speed trains collided in Urda, in the province of Toledo, killing at least 69 people and leaving dozens injured.[S1]
