At least 40 people were killed and 122 injured after a high-speed train derailed and was struck by an oncoming service in southern Spain late last night, authorities said, in the country’s deadliest rail disaster since 2013. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared three days of national mourning and visited the crash site.
The collision occurred at 7:45 p.m. near Adamuz in the province of Córdoba, about 360 kilometers south of Madrid. State rail operator Renfe said roughly 400 people were aboard the two trains — an Iryo service traveling from Málaga to Madrid and an Alvia train heading toward Huelva. Drone video from the scene showed jackknifed, twisted carriages under floodlights as rescuers worked through the night.
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Emergency services said 48 of the injured remained hospitalized today, with around a dozen in intensive care. Video shared on social media showed some passengers climbing out of shattered windows as others were wheeled away on stretchers. “The train tipped to one side… then everything went dark, and all I heard was screams,” said Ana, a passenger bound for Madrid who was treated at a Red Cross center in Adamuz. “There were people who were fine and others who were very, very badly injured.”
Transport Minister Óscar Puente traveled to Córdoba and thanked rescue teams for working “in very difficult circumstances,” offering condolences to victims’ families. Responders said the remote location and a single-track access road complicated the evacuation, slowing the movement of ambulances in and out.
The cause of the crash is not yet known. Álvaro Fernández Heredia, Renfe’s president, told Cadena Ser radio that “human error is practically ruled out,” calling the circumstances “strange.” He said the Iryo train, traveling about 110 kph, derailed and lost a wheel that has not yet been located. Roughly 20 seconds later, the oncoming Alvia service, believed to be moving near 200 kph, collided either with the derailed train’s final carriages or debris on the track, leaving no time for the driver to trigger an emergency brake.
Puente said the Iryo train was less than four years old. The track in the area underwent a complete renovation last May with an investment of €700 million, according to the minister, and Iryo said the train received its last inspection on January 15. A Reuters review of Adif, Spain’s state infrastructure manager, found at least 10 disruptions near Adamuz since 2022 due to signaling or overhead line failures. Officials did not say whether any previous issues were related to last night’s derailment.
More than 200 trains between Madrid and Andalusia — including routes serving Córdoba, Seville and Granada — were canceled today, broadcaster RTVE reported, as investigators from transport and judicial authorities secured the scene. Most passengers on the two trains were Spaniards traveling to and from Madrid after the weekend, Renfe said. It was not immediately clear how many tourists were on board during the low season.
Spain has 3,622 kilometers of high-speed track, the largest network in Europe and second only to China worldwide, according to Adif. The system has faced criticism over recent delays linked to power outages and thefts of copper cable, a recurring problem on lines that cross sparsely populated areas.
Opened to private competition in 2020, Spain’s high-speed market now includes Iryo, a joint venture of Italy’s Ferrovie dello Stato, Air Nostrum and Spanish infrastructure fund Globalvia. Iryo began operating in late 2022 on the Madrid-Barcelona corridor before expanding to other routes. Renfe continues to run Alvia and Ave services.
Last night’s collision is Spain’s deadliest rail crash since a train derailed and caught fire in Santiago de Compostela in 2013, killing 80 and injuring 145. Investigators have yet to establish what caused the Adamuz derailment; authorities urged patience as forensic teams, rail safety specialists and prosecutors piece together the final seconds before impact.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
