In spain the procedure calls for driving by sight. There was a third train coming that stopped because the driver ignored the command to drive at normal speed and drove by sight.
The real issue is that the LZB fails often enough (installed back in 1992 and due for a phased out in favor of a newer system last year with the contract awarded and no work yet started) that the only safety assurance is the person at the command center issuing command flawlessly, which is not sustainable as it can be seen.
Iryo CEO said a few weeks back on a congress hearing that every time the LZB goes out, their trains are completely stopped. This must have slipped the central command resposible's mind as it was ordered to everyone to just restart the march, but the Iryo just couldn't.
The most that is supposed to happen when LZB goes down, is that the capacity of the line is reduced and there are delays. LZB is not the only train control system.
> ordered to everyone to just restart the march, but the Iryo just couldn't.
Railway protocols operate under the assumption that any train can stop at any time immediately (not even with a braking distance) without the dispatcher noticing. You need to have the information of complete departure of the previous train before allowing the next train to move. If the first train would be able to start, it would still be pure luck if there wouldn't have been a collision.