Union slams ‘constant deterioration of railway’ after major crash in southern Spain kills at least 43, injures dozens.
The largest train drivers’ union in Spain has called for a nationwide strike to demand safety assurances after three derailments left dozens dead and wounded this week.
Train operators’ union SEMAF said in a statement on Wednesday that it would “demand criminal liability from those responsible for ensuring safety in the railway infrastructure”.
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“This situation of constant deterioration of the railway is unacceptable,” the union said.
The strike call came just days after a collision between two high-speed trains in the southern province of Cordoba on Sunday killed at least 43 people, marking the country’s deadliest train crash in more than a decade.
In a separate incident late on Tuesday, a driver died and 37 people were injured after a commuter train hit a retaining wall that fell onto the tracks in Gelida, near Barcelona, according to regional officials.
Another derailment of a train on Barcelona’s regional network was also reported on Tuesday after a rock fell on the line, but no injuries were reported, rail network operator ADIF said.
Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente said the government would “sit down and talk” with the union to try to avoid the strike, which he said was motivated by “the emotional state that the train drivers are experiencing right now following the death of two colleagues”.
But the incidents have fuelled questions about the safety of Spain’s rail network, as well as criticism from opposition lawmakers and commuters.
Raluca Maria Pasca, a 45-year-old waitress, said she had noticed that high-speed trains “have been shaking lately”.
“I’ve felt it myself. They need to fix the problem,” she told the AFP news agency at the train station in the southern city of Cordoba.
Spain’s conservative main opposition Popular Party also has demanded an “immediate clarification” on the state of the nation’s railways. “This is too much,” party leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo wrote on X.
Speed limits imposed
The Spanish authorities haven’t ruled out the possibility of finding more victims in the wreckage from Sunday’s high-speed crash.
Three days of national mourning are under way while the cause is being investigated.
The crash happened when the tail end of a train carrying 289 passengers on the route from Malaga to the country’s capital, Madrid, derailed and crashed into an incoming train travelling from Madrid to Huelva, another southern city, according to ADIF.
The collision took place near the town of Adamuz, and local authorities said bodies were found hundreds of metres from the crash site.
Authorities continued their search on Wednesday, finding a 43rd victim. Another 37 people remained hospitalised on Wednesday morning, while 86 people were treated and discharged, regional officials said.
Meanwhile, services across Catalonia’s main commuter rail network have been suspended completely while safety checks are carried out and officials say they will not resume until the lines are considered safe.
ADIF has imposed a temporary 160km/h (100mph) speed limit on parts of the high-speed line between Madrid and Barcelona after train drivers reported bumps.
Trains travelling between Madrid and the eastern city of Valencia have also been ordered to cap their speed on a 1.8km (one-mile) stretch of the line, the network operator said on Wednesday.
In August, SEMAF – the train operators’ union – had sent a letter asking ADIF to investigate flaws on train lines across the country due to increased usage and to reduce speeds at certain points until the tracks were fully repaired.
The recommendations were made for high-speed train lines, including the one where Sunday’s crash happened, the union told The Associated Press news agency.