“It is an excess”: Leader of the Metro Union denied negligence on the part of the driver in the crash on Line 3

On Friday night, the leader of the National Union of Metro Workers, Fernando Espinocondemned the arrest of Carlos Alfredo “N”driver of the convoy that collided with another train on January 7 on Line 3 of the Collective Transportation System (STC) Subway.

This accident resulted in the death of a woman and the injury of around a hundred people, including the driver. Faced with this situation, the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office (FGJCDMX) determined that the accident was caused by cutting wires and the driver negligencereason that led to his arrest on Friday afternoon.

And at night the first hearing against Carlos Alfredo was held in which he is being charged for his alleged responsibility in the crimes of homicide and injuriesintentional in both cases, which will continue next Wednesday, January 1.

Given these facts, the union leader assured in an interview with Millennium that it was an excess on the part of the capital authorities and accused of not having been informed of the arrest.

“I think it is an excess, they have not informed us at all and this causes a lot of concern among the entire worker base”

He added that the situation frightens operators and their colleagues who work within public transport. We cannot work in those conditions. we cannot carry out our activities when my classmates are afraid stop them allhe declared.

Likewise, it ruled out that the failures presented within the facilities were due to sabotage and attributed it to lack of maintenance, Contrary to the statements of the spokesperson of the Prosecutor’s Office, Ulises Lara.

“It seems to me incorrect and unethical for the spokesman for the Prosecutor’s Office to speak, in a blunt way, that there is evidence of sabotage. (…) Usfor no reason, We are going to accept that there is sabotage at our workplaceHe doesn’t know what it’s like to work 24 hours a day to provide a collective transportation service,” he told the outlet.

Last but not least, he defended the driver and said that the failure came from those who authorized the trains to travel despite the fact that the signaling failures inside the tunnel were known, and not from whoever was operating convoy 24 that morning.

“Someone had to authorize the train to circulate, from there the driver is not guilty. the train signal is also lost and this causes my partner to hit one of the trains”

During a press conference, Ulises Lara indicated that since the day before the accident, there was knowledge of a report of failures in signaling inside the tunnel that connects La Raza with Potrero, for which a “safety march”.

This consists of the operators adopting restricted manual driving, that is, an advance at a maximum speed of 15 kilometers per hour in a curve and 35 km/h in a straight line, in addition to maintaining automatic piloting and will not change without prior authorization from the Central Control Post.

However, investigations by the authorities, as well as the search of the train, indicated that the driver exceeded the speed limit. When stopped by the system, Carlos Alfredo would have changed the automatic piloting “reaching a speed of 45 kilometers per hour until the moment of impact.”

He also indicated that there was no maneuver. As for the failures in the tunnel, it was due to cut and incinerated cables in two connection logs containing connection cabling. communications, signaling Y autopilot at the Potrero station, on its east and west sides.