Santiago de Compostela

Like we're all wearing the same muddy boots.

We all have the same backpacks and we're all aiming for the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.

So it's almost like the titles are stripped away and we're all just people.

We're all just pilgrims.

excuse me, which Spain's health minister, Monica Garcia, uh, Monica, I'm sorry, Monica Garcia said, uh, had injured 80 people, 50, 15 of them very seriously.

Um, so yeah, like I said, there's going to be investigations on the way they reference, uh, 2013 derailment in Spain's Santiago de Compostela in which 80 people died.

Um, And then follows another fatal accident in January involving high speed trains operated by the same companies on the same.

Oh, this is the same line.

So is this the third ever fatal accident at speed on a high-speed rail line? No, there have been lots of fatal accidents.

In Spain, there have been three, Santiago de Compostela, Ademuth, and this, in terms of major fatal derailments.

But there have been quite a few high-speed line crashes globally.

What does this say about the safety culture when multiple of these crashes can happen in one year on the same line? So I've said this on my Twitter thread, but just because the causes here are both will be different are very obviously different from the information we have now.

Clarity on the progress of ETCS Level 2 fitment on the line from Madrid to Sevilla is going to be useful and valuable information as the investigation proceeds and as we try to interpret the information in lieu of that investigation arriving.

Talking of that investigation, I brought this up during the Adamov crash, and I'm going to bring it up again because it's relevant now.

In 2013, Spain saw its first and, at the time, most significant rail crash and high-speed rail crash, should I say, 2013, Santiago de Compostela, an absolutely horrific incident that had a series of failures.

Of course, at the start, all of it was pinned.

By designating Our Lady of Boulogne as in this wonderful designation, the medieval church emphasized that her sanctuary was not merely dedicated to a statue about Mary, but was home to a divinely gifted object sent directly from heaven to the shores of France.

Because of the location of the apparition and the discovery of Our Lady, Bologna-sur-Mer became a staging ground for the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, and a pilgrim destination.

The town sits on a recognized historic northern European feeder route.

It's called the Jacobean Way or Chemin de Saint-Jacques.

During the Middle Ages, pilgrims traveling from England, Flanders, and Scandinavia to Santiago de Compostela often crossed the English Channel or traveled along the northern coast.

Bologna served as one of the primary continental landing ports.

and starting points and staging points for these trans-European journeys.

It is the ultimate pilgrim's badge.

It is physical proof that this man had survived the grueling, thousands of miles long journey across Europe to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

So it means he possessed significant wealth, high social status, and deep religious devotion.

Exactly.

News of miracles spread, and the church soon became a center for pilgrims.

One of the four starting points on the road to Santiago de Compostela, Vézelay was a religious destination of huge importance.

Today, the pilgrimage of Le Père de Famille is taking place.

This ritual of walking across the landscape to come for spiritual reflection is the same now as it would have been in the Middle Ages.

This tradition made Zaragoza one of the most significant pilgrimage destinations in the Spanish-speaking Catholic world.

second in national importance, perhaps only to Santiago de Compostela itself.

The

sick,