European Commission and European Railway Agency: Make public the report on the Santiago train crash.

My son David was killed in the Santiago train crash. My son, the son of Abelardo and Irene, the daughter of Luis and Olga and many others were killed in an accident that was avoidable. The families of the victims still do not know what were all the causes behind the crash. And we do not know because the European Union does not want to make public the report on the Santiago train crash.

Do we not have the right to know why our children were killed? We need to know the truth in order to move on. For this reason, we are asking the European Commission (EC) and the European Railway Agency (ERA) to release the report on the Santiago train crash which took place on 24 July 2013, resulting in 81 deaths and more than 140 injured.

The publication of the report is essential in order to clarify the causes of the accident  and to guarantee railway safety in Spain and Europe, especially if one takes into account the fact that the EU Commission has opened a judicial inquiry against the Spanish State for violating the Railway Safety Directive 2004/49/CE.

In November 2015, various EU Commission representatives made a personal commitment to me and other victims and relatives to make the report public during the first three months of 2016. However, the EU Commission and the European Railway Agency now refuse to release the report on the grounds of a series of “exceptions” contained in Regulation 1049/2001 concerning public access to information. However, these very same regulations state that access will be denied “unless publication is of overriding public interest”. We are obviously dealing here with such a case.

Thanks to your and thousands of other people's support we will get the EU Commission and the European Railway Agency  to understand that this is an issue of overriding public interest. We deserve to know what happened and why 81 people died and why another 140 were injured.

Please sign this petition and send it on.
The European Railway Agency itself states that “investigations into train crashes must be public and independent. Establishing all the causes and circumstances of accidents is fundamental in order to take the necessary preventative measures so that there is no repetition”.

The victims and their relatives have the right to gain access to the report and all the documents related to the violations of railway security regulations by the Spanish State and its Public Administration.

Thank you for SIGNING this petition.

Rogelio Bernardo

Vicepresident of the Plataforma Víctimas Alvia 04155