Train accident in Andalusia: 45 dead because a rail apparently broke

Madrid (Spain) – 45 dead, hundreds injured – and it is becoming increasingly clear: it was most likely a broken rail that led to the serious train accident in Spain northeast of Córdoba.

This is what it says in a preliminary report by the Railway Accident Investigation Commission (Ciaf). Afterwards, during the investigation of the Iryo train that derailed in Andalusia, suspicious “notches” were discovered on the right wheels of four wagons. These notches and a “deformation” on the rail therefore indicate a broken rail as the cause train accident hin.

Matching indentations were discovered on the right wheels of three other trains that had been running on the same track in the hours before the accident. The investigators therefore suspect that the crack in the rail occurred before the Iryo train passed through and not as a result of the derailment. To confirm this hypothesis, further calculations and analyzes will now be carried out.

Why the rails in Spain didn’t hold up

“Indentations” on the wheels can occur when the rail first bends under load and then breaks. At this point a step is created on which the wheels hit and the metal is notched.

The high speed train derailed near the town of Adamuz and collided with an oncoming high-speed train operated by the Spanish state railway Renfe, which also derailed. 45 people died including a German.

What the Minister of Transport says

The accident occurred on a straight line. According to the Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente (57) The section of the route had only recently been renovated. The Iryo train was therefore “practically new”. Failure on the part of the locomotive drivers was also ruled out as both trains did not exceed the maximum permitted speed. The investigation at the scene of the accident is ongoing.