01:30 PM
Behind the fatal accident occurred in the early hours of this Wednesday when Two cabins of the K line of the Metrocable collided, causing one to fall and one person to die, the union of workers Metro companySintrametro expressed its concern over what it considers to be a significant increase in the outsourcing of the company’s maintenance work.
Find out: What caused the cable car tragedy in northeastern Medellín?
As they say, some maintenance, which was previously done internally with the same trained and qualified personnel of the company, Now they are being contracted by other private sector companies. “There are around 300 outsourcing companies that are responsible for missionary maintenance of the Metro,” says Claudia Montoya, one of the union leaders.
Since the moment of the accident, Metro officials have said that will carry out all relevant investigations to clearly determine the causes of the accident and to do so they will have national and international experts. It must be said that this is the first time that an accident of this magnitude has occurred in a metrocable since they began operation in 2004, 20 years ago.
You can read: The history of the Medellín Metrocable, the first urban cable transport in the world that fell for the first time in 20 years
“We want to express our commitment to a transparent and objective investigation of the causes of the accident for which we will be relying on academia, universities and international experts who have also carried out maintenance work certification work on our line in the past,” said the Metro manager, Tomas Elejalde, after the accident. Likewise, he assured that The fault had occurred specifically on that line and not in the system network, Therefore, the rest of the lines could continue to operate normally.
Read more: “We cannot rule out any hypothesis”: Metro manager talks about investigations into the accident on the cable car
According to the mayor Federico Gutierrez This Friday upon his return to the city (at the time of the accident he was at a conference in Spain), Line K that covers the northeastern area of the city will be suspended for at least 15 days while investigations into the causes of the accident are underway.
For his part, Carlos Quintero, the director of the Department of Disaster Risk Management in Medellín, indicated that the rapid action of the relief agencies in the event is the result of an integrated plan with the Metro company that has been developing for years. Quintero indicated that Among the risk events contemplated by the Metro, is precisely that of the detachment of a cabin and that is why they had a plan to address the case immediately.
Finally, Pilar Calvo Holgado, a member of the Spanish company ESM, which specializes in risks and safety in transportation systems, said that, although the company has different protocols, maintenance and audits, that does not mean that an accident like the one that occurred on Wednesday cannot happen. “It is important in the face of an event of these characteristics that the population knows that zero risk does not exist”he pointed.
You may be interested in: The identity of the man who died in an accident on the cable car at the Popular station in Medellín is known
For its part, The District Ombudsman has already announced that it will investigate if there was responsibility on the part of officials of the Metro company.
“The District Personnel of Medellín, through the Administrative Surveillance and Disciplinary Instruction process, Preliminary investigation began against undetermined officials of the Medellín Metrofor the alleged irregularities that would have been recorded in the incident that occurred on June 26, 2024,” said Yenny Serna, delegate for Administrative Surveillance and Disciplinary Investigation.
Before the tragic accident on Wednesday, only one other risk event had occurred on this cable line, on March 25, 2017, when two cable cars collided with each other inside the Acevedo station but there were no injuries.
While the investigations continue and how transportation alternative, The Metro and the Metropolitan area will make these five bus routes available to the community:
-Route C6-017
Integration: Acevedo and Santo Domingo.
Route: Santo Domingo Station, main road to 97th Street, Granizal, Santa Cruz and Los Balsos neighborhoods, Acevedo.
-Route C6-012A La Francia – Acevedo
Integration: It passes near Andalucía station and goes to Acevedo.
Route: It leaves the terminal at La Francia, passes through Andalucía station and heads towards the integration at Acevedo.
-Route C6-013
Integration: Popular and Tricentennial.
Route: It leaves from Popular No. 1, integrates into the Popular station and goes to the Tricentenario station.
-Route C6-016
Integration: Hospital
Route: Hospital Station southeast side. Support for the Granizal and Nuevo Horizonte sectors.
-Route C6-021
Integration:Tercentenary
Route: Tercentenary Station. Support for the Granizal and Popular 1 sectors.
