Weather report rules out lightning hypothesis for train signal box fire

A report from the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC) states that no lightning struck Gavà on Monday, the town south of Barcelona where a train signal box fire has caused severe disruption to the Rodalies R2 South commuter train line. 

This contrasts with statements from Xavier Flores, Secretary General of Infrastructure at Spain's Ministry of Transport who had claimed that a lightning bolt was the cause of the fire. 

According to data from the SMC's Atmospheric Electrical Discharge Detection Network (XDDE), storms on May 1 produced cloud-to-ground lightning in the counties of Vallès Occidental, Maresme and in the north of Barcelonès, but no lightning was detected in Baix Llobregat county, where Gavà is situated. 

On April 30, storms did affect Baix Llobregat. The closest lightning strike to Gavà train station was recorded about 4.5 kilometers away, in Prat de Llobregat. 

Considering the accuracy of the system, the SMC says it can rule out the possibility that lightning impacted the site where the fire broke out. 

The XDDE system detects and locates lightning generated by storms in Catalonia using four detectors which provide an average location accuracy of between 500 meters and one kilometer. 

Despite the report, officials from Adif, the company managing the rail infrastructure, are still working with the lightning theory. 

Deputy director of North-East operations of Adif, Alfonso Ruiz, dismissed the idea that the incidents was caused by a lack of investment, in statements given to the media after the meeting with the Catalan government. 

Ruiz insisted that an incident of this nature wass "absolutely impossible to predict."

Disruption to services

Only one R2 train was running every half an hour between the town of Sant Vicenç de Calders and Estació de França station in Barcelona on Tuesday.

Officials from Spain's transport ministry said the incident was "serious" and that normal service will not return to the R2 South line for "three or four weeks."

Flores told reporters in Barcelona that it was "one of the worst incidents you can have: it leaves you blind in terms of train control and safety."

Improvement to services will be "progressive," he said. "If today [Tuesday] it was possible to run two trains per direction per hour, for Wednesday the forecast is that the frequency will increase to three trains per direction per hour."

The R13, R14, R15, R16, and R17 lines from Tarragona and the Ebre region in southern Catalonia to Barcelona are also being diverted through the Penedès area, inland from Gavà.