An investigation into the collision of two high-speed trains in Spain that killed 45 people suggests that the railway track had cracked before the accident, according to a preliminary report published on Friday, January 23.
Spain is seeking answers to one of the deadliest accidents of its kind in Europe this century, which has raised doubts about the safety of the world's second-largest high-speed rail network.
The accident occurred in the southern region of Andalusia on the evening of January 18, when a train operated by the private company, Iryo, derailed and crossed onto the tracks on the other side, colliding with a train coming from the opposite direction, a train operated by the state company, Renfe.
An inspection of the Iryo train “revealed cuts on the side wheels on the right side” of four carriages, the CIAF committee investigating rail accidents said in a preliminary report.
"These cuts on the wheels and deformation on the rails are consistent with the fact that the rail was cracked," the document said.
Cuts were also found on the right-hand side wheels of three trains that had passed over the same tracks hours before the accident, the CIAF said.
Based on this information, "we can propose the hypothesis that the rail crack occurred before the Iryo train that suffered the accident passed, and therefore before the derailment," the report said.
The CIAF warned that “this hypothesis… must be subsequently verified through detailed calculations and analyses.”
Transport Minister Oscar Puente said it was "reassuring" that investigators have this hypothesis on the possible cause of the accident.
"The findings are not conclusive, but they shed light on the theory that the commission's experts currently consider most likely," he told reporters in Madrid.
He added that the crack in the rail should have been small enough not to interrupt the electricity passing through it, as if it had been deeper, the alarm system would have automatically been activated and rail traffic would have been stopped.
The railway segment where the accident occurred had been recently renovated, while the Iryo train was manufactured in 2022.
Human error has been ruled out as a possible cause of the accident, as the trains that collided had been traveling within the permitted speed limit.
Spain has the largest high-speed train network in Europe with over 3,000 kilometers of railway connecting major cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Malaga./REL
