Alex Trelinski
A 20-YEAR-OLD woman died on Wednesday when she was run over by a train at Alfafar level crossing in Valencia province.
It’s the third death at the crossing since last summer with residents and local politicians making repeated calls over 40 years for better safety at the blackspot.
The latest accident happened at around 8.30am and one theory is that the victim was wearing earphones which obliterated warning sounds coming from the crossing.
The crossing point is frequently used by students- young and old- from Alfafar and Sedavi to go to school and college.
Some eyewitnesses claimed that the victim from Sedavi waited for a Valencia-bound train to pass, and then crossed the line without realising a train was approaching from the other direction.
The Guardia Civil is investigating the incident.
The mayors of Alfafar and Sedavi attended the scene and repeated long-standing local demands for the crossing to be eliminated by building a tunnel.
Alfafar mayor, Jose Ramon Adsuara said one issue is that people lose patience as the barriers come down ‘many minutes’ before a train passes and road users decide to cross anyway.
His Sedavi counterpart, Josep Francesc Cabanes, pointed out that the accident happened at rush hour and that many Sedavi children use the crossing to go to school and that Alfafar is literally ‘split’ by the railway line.
Both mayors said they would denounce line owner Adif for non-compliance of rules concerning loudness and accessibility.
A protest will be held by the crossing on Thursday at 8.00pm.
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