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Ten years have passed since the Eleven tragedy in Argentina
This Tuesday marked the tenth anniversary of the fateful morning of February 22, 2012, when the most serious rail accident in the history of Argentina occurred, namely a train crashed into the platform of the Once station, one of the busiest in the country. Due to the accident 52 people died and 789 were injured.
Definitely, it was a tragic event that after ten years it continues to leave unfortunate memories in the Argentines and that from that moment, the justice of the South American country has prosecuted several implicated in those events.
investigations and trials
The investigations agree that of the eight train cars, six had compressed air compressors to be able to maneuver the brakes. In the same way, seven wagons had not had maintenance in a long time and proof of this is that the bumpers did not have the hydraulic system working.
Marcos Córdoba, who was the driver, also confessed that he had deactivated the dead man's braking system, a mechanism that is activated if the driver becomes unconscious. The manual brakes did work, however, they couldn't stop the disaster.
On the other hand, the eight cars crowded each other, but the worst part was taken by the first two that were completely destroyed. It should be noted that all this information was provided by the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ).
Another piece of information provided is that the train belonged to the Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA) concessionaire, registration number 3,772 and plate number 16, which covered a section of the Sarmiento line.
Researcher Candela Hernández also provided valuable data in an academic article:
The formation that collided in Once had been manufactured in 1958 and had not received effective maintenance, except for that which was essential to circulate, since 2000-2001. In addition, inside the train there was an overcrowding of 7.5 people per square meter, above the stipulated maximum of 5 people.
As for the trial by Judge Claudio Bonadío on October 18, 2012, 22 people were sentenced to prison, including Julio de Vido, former Minister of Planning, Juan Pablo Schiavi and Ricardo Jaime, former Secretaries of Transportation, and Marcos Córdoba, the machinist.
The oral trial would take place in March 2014, with more than 135 hearings and where more than 200 witnesses were summoned. 28 people charged, of which were the aforementioned Juan Pablo Schiavi and Ricardo Jaime, the first was the Secretary of Transportation at the time of the tragedy, and the second was his predecessor.
The machinist Marcos Antonio Córdoba, as well as the brothers Mario and Claudio Sergio Cirigliano, owners of TBA, were also among those accused.
Among the sentences issued by the Federal Oral Court 2 in 2015, Sergio Cirigiliano received a sentence of 9 years in prison, Schiavi 8 years (later reduced to 5 years and six months), Jaime 6 years (later increased to 7 years) and Córdoba 3 years and 3 months.
Basically, the responsibility was shared by public officials, the driver and the concession company. For Paolo Menghini, father of one of the victims, the train “had been on the tracks for 60 years, without any type of security system. This tragedy could have been avoided."
It should be noted that a second trial was held in 2018 where the former Minister of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services, Julio de Vido, was sentenced to five years and 8 months in prison because one of his functions was to supervise the management of TBA, which he didn't do.
10 years ago…
At 8:32 a.m. on February 22, a train carrying 1,500 people crashed into the bumper of the platform at platform No. 2 of the Once station, located in the center of the city of Buenos Aires, at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour.
It should be noted that when entering a station, the trains must go at 4 or 5 km per hour, which then indicates that they had not been able to brake or did not work correctly. After the accident, the rescuers worked for more than 24 hours, whose work was even seen internationally, going around the world.
As a consequence of this accident, the deterioration of the train system of the city of Buenos Aires was evidenced and from that moment reforms were carried out to the transport system.
It should be noted that also in June 2013 two trains collided in Castelar, which is a province of Buenos Aires, where three people died and hundreds were injured. Also in October 2013, another train collided again on the Once platform, where dozens of people were injured.
