ADAMUZ: Spain’s rail operator Adif ordered trains on the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed line to limit their speed on Tuesday on concerns about the track’s condition, two days after one of Europe’s deadliest train crashes on another line left at least 42 dead.
The country remains in shock after the first-ever fatal accident on the country’s extensive high-speed rail network, which occurred on Sunday evening near Adamuz in Cordoba province, about 360 km (223 miles) south of Madrid. Experts say a faulty rail joint may be key to determining the cause of the derailment that led to the collision between two trains.
Train drivers last year called on Adif to limit speeds due to their unease about deterioration on several of Spain’s high-speed lines, after it opened the network to private competition in 2020 to offer low-cost alternatives to state-run Renfe’s trains.
“We have detected and reported to all operators much more vibration and wear and tear on the infrastructure since the liberalisation and a 60% increase in traffic,” Diego Martin, general secretary of the Semaf drivers union, said.
Adif said it hoped to lift the speed limit on the line once its maintenance team had inspected two stretches totalling nearly 150 km where drivers have reported bumps on the tracks.
At the site of the crash near Adamuz, rescuers used heavy machinery overnight and in the early hours of Tuesday to level the ground and gain access to the worst-hit carriages as they sought to recover the remains of people still missing.
They aimed to use two cranes to lift the front carriages of the train belonging to the state-run Alvia service, which had plunged down a 4-metre (13 ft) embankment after the crash, and the rear carriages of the train operated by private consortium Iryo.
The collision occurred in rolling, olive-growing countryside in the foothills of a mountain range at a site only reachable by a single-track road, making it difficult for rescuers to gain access with heavy machinery.
One more body was found overnight within the wreck of the Iryo train, which had derailed, and another death was confirmed later on Tuesday raising the death toll to 42, authorities said.
Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2026
