Multiple train crashes in Spain this week have killed at least 45 people and injured more than 150, in addition to other deadly and injurious incidents on commuter lines, according to the Associated Press. The tragedies have led to renewed questions about safety across the country’s rail system.
Derailment and collision near Adamuz
The first crash involved a high-speed train in southern Spain that derailed on Sunday evening. Authorities said the tail end of a train carrying 289 passengers from Malaga to the capital, Madrid, went off the rails and slammed into an oncoming fast train traveling from Madrid to Huelva with around 200 people.
Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the head of the second train took the brunt of the impact. Puente said the collision knocked the first two carriages off the track and sent them plummeting down a four-meter (13-foot) slope. The collision took place near Adamuz, a town in the province of Cordoba, about 370 kilometers (about 230 miles) south of Madrid.
Andalusia regional President Juan Manuel Moreno said, “The impact was so incredibly violent that we have found bodies hundreds of meters away.” Authorities said they had identified almost all victims from Sunday’s crash.
Deadliest since 2013 crash
The Sunday crash killed at least 45 people and injured more than 150. The Associated Press reported that it was the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash in Galicia that killed 80 people, when a commuter train hurtled off the rails as it came around a bend.
Investigation underway; rail fracture discussed
Explanations about what caused the crash were scant, with an official investigation underway, but some details had emerged. CIAF, Spain’s rail accident investigating body, said Friday that a fracture in the rail appeared to have been present before the high-speed derailment.
In a preliminary report, CIAF said investigators found uniform notches on several wheel treads on the right-hand side of the train that jumped the track. CIAF said the “These nicks in the wheels and the deformation observed in the rail are consistent with the rail being fractured,” and investigators said they did not know what caused the apparent fracture and were not ruling out any possibilities.
Renfe’s president, Álvaro Fernández, said both trains were traveling well under the speed limit of 250 kph (155 mph) and that “human error could be ruled out.” The Associated Press reported that the train that jumped the track belonged to Iryo, while the second train belonged to Renfe.
Iryo said in a statement that its train was manufactured in 2022 and passed its latest safety check on Jan. 15.
Other incidents on commuter lines
Beyond the high-speed crash, a commuter train crash occurred Tuesday night in northeastern Spain on a line near Barcelona. Spanish regional authorities said a retaining wall fell onto the tracks; one person was killed and at least 37 others were injured.
On Thursday, a commuter train crashed in Spain’s southeastern Murcia region after it collided with a crane. Emergency services said six people with minor injuries had been transferred to the hospital.
The Associated Press said Spain’s high-speed rail network generally runs smoothly, and officials said Sunday’s collision was the first with deaths on Spain’s high-speed rail network since it opened its first line in 1992. It also said commuter rails have reliability issues, but that crashes causing injury or death are not common.
Concerns raised earlier by railway drivers
The Associated Press said the Spanish Union of Railway Drivers sent a letter last August asking Spain’s rail operator to investigate flaws on high-speed train lines tied to increased traffic. The union warned of potholes, bumps and imbalances in overhead power lines, along with frequent breakdowns and damage to trains, and called for a general strike in the coming weeks to demand more safety assurances.