When workers need to access a portion of railtrack (a block), they need to request a possession and isolation from the command center of the line. A possession means no train can approach less than two blocks from the block they will work on, and an isolation means the power is cut (most lines in Europe are electrified).

The procedure to perform this has been specifically designed to avoid miscommunications, with multiple back and forth between the operators on the ground and the command center to ensure one doesn't mindlessly make a mistake. Usually it's done by phone but I believe some lines now have apps for it.

This accident should not have happened. If the possession had been granted then at the very least the signaling system would have warned the train driver to stop several kilometers before he reached them. On modern lines the train would have stopped automatically, without human intervention. And signaling systems are extremely robust, they don't "bug" in a way that makes this possible.

To me this must be a human error. Either the workers worked without a possession (because they though it would be ok, the line was not operating at that time, it was a short operation, yadda yadda. The exact reason why possession requests are mandatory...) or it was an old line and the train driver was not paying attention to the point of ignoring several, big reg lights telling him to stop.

Either way, no GPS location sharing would have helped if someone disregarded safety instructions. :/

Source : I'm not an expert but I did an internship in a company who designs signaling systems in Europe and my project was specifically on the subject of replacing phone calls for possession and isolation with an app on a PDA.

[–] philpo@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

Ferrovie dell stato has stated today towards RAI that the works should not have started until this train had passed. It looks very much like the workers did not have possession of the tracks. Some sourced claim that the manager had not received permission and was possibly not even on site.

Interesting is the fact that the train is in relatively pristine condition if you look at RAIs videos - they definitely didn't already have heavy machinery in place or they did put it on another track (which is unlikely as the according to the Ferrovie statement the accident happened on the track they were supposed to work on). Another interesting fact is the speed of the train - which had two conductors onboard,btw: The train was doing 160km/h - this is not a speed you use in a segment that you expect works on another track to be done.

Personally if I had to bet money on one theory I would guess the manager (who was the one certified to work with Ferrovie) was not on site/not concentrated, the workers were told when the last train goes through/there was some miscommunication with the guys on scene and they either mistook another train as the "last" train or the "last" one was late/not in their schedule and they started simply by the clock.

Or someone in the control center fucked up beyond believe and that is much more unlikely tbh.

Anyway, those poor bastards, poor families and friends and even poor villages. They basically are all locals.