Investigations into the causes of Sunday’s railway tragedy in Spain are focusing on the existence of a defective connection, which created a gap in the rails, which may be responsible for the derailment and the collision of the 2 trains, as the death toll has now reached 41.
A train of the private railway company Iryo, which is majority-owned by the Italian state railway group Ferrovie dello Stato (which also owns Hellenic Train), traveling toward Madrid, collided with a train of the state-owned Renfe, which was traveling in the opposite direction. The defective connection under investigation was located at kilometer 318.7 of the Madrid–Andalusia high-speed rail network.
At the same time, as reported by Reuters, the union of Spanish train drivers had warned the railway company ADIF last August, in a letter, about serious wear on railway lines used by high-speed trains, including the one on which the two trains collided yesterday, Sunday.
The death toll reached 41, as the body of one more victim was found yesterday, with Spain entering a 3-day national mourning period as of today.
Potholes, bulges, and imbalances in the overhead electrification lines above the trains cause frequent malfunctions and damage to the trains, the letter states, adding that drivers were informing the company “daily” of their concerns, without any action being taken.
A three-day national mourning has been declared in Spain as of today, with authorities investigating 43 reports of missing persons, while the death toll is expected to rise further, as 12 injured people are being treated in intensive care units.
