Tragedy at Zalla Level Crossing: Driver Dies After Collision with Train
A fatal collision occurred this Tuesday at the Ibarra stop when a delivery van was hit head-on by a train at a dangerous unprotected crossing. The driver, an employee of GRUSAR Logística y Distribución SLU who was making deliveries for Amazon, suffered critical injuries and later died at Cruces Hospital 🚑
Chronic Safety Problem in the Area
The accident-prone level crossing completely lacks safety systems and has serious visibility deficiencies according to union testimonies. Zalla has 34 similar railway crossings, a situation that municipal authorities have been flagging as highly concerning since May 2022 ⚠️
Key data on the infrastructure:- 34 level crossings without adequate protection in the municipality
- History of safety complaints without concrete responses
- Municipal alert active since May 2022 on imminent risks
It seems that for safety at level crossings to be taken seriously, a tragedy has to occur, and even then the solutions don't arrive
Improvement Initiatives in Development
Adif is preparing a project to eliminate several of these black spots and reorganize the local railway network. The initiative responds to municipal demands that insist on the urgency to act after successive incidents 🚧
Planned measures:- Adif project for the suppression of dangerous crossings
- Municipal plan agreed in June 2022 with institutions
- Long-standing municipal demand to modernize infrastructure
Immediate Consequences and Current Situation
The accident completely paralyzed both the BI-3651 road and the railway service in the area, generating mobility chaos. Residents continue to live daily with the risk of traveling through level crossings that should have been modernized long ago, evidencing an unresolved structural problem 🚨