Spain Approves Rail Safety Plan and €30 Million Crash Aid

Spain’s cabinet approved a rail-safety plan and a €30 million aid package on Tuesday, a week after a high-speed train collision killed 69 people. Transport Minister Óscar Puente announced the measures, which include an extraordinary review of safety systems on the Madrid-Seville line where the collision occurred. The review will be carried out by Spain’s railway safety agency, AESF, and scheduled services on the route will be reduced while it is underway. The plan also calls for control-centre software with automatic alerts, recorded communications, electronic logs and checklists, as well as tools using artificial intelligence and a digital model of the network to monitor operations and flag irregularities. Under another measure, a second staff member must approve instructions issued manually if automatic train-control systems fail. The government also plans to revise rules on traffic controllers’ rest periods, expand fatigue-management protocols to other safety-critical jobs and increase emergency-response training. A technical study will consider passive safety measures inside carriages, including secured luggage storage. The aid package will supplement compulsory insurance...