Deadly train disaster in Andalusia

The province of Cordoba is in national mourning today following a horrific train collision that occurred on Sunday, January 18, 2026, at approximately 7:40 p.m. This tragedy has claimed the lives of at least 39 people and left 24 seriously injured, according to the latest report from the Guardia Civil.

The disaster unfolded near the town of Adamuz when a high-speed train operated by Iryo, a subsidiary of Trenitalia, carrying over 300 passengers between Malaga and Madrid, suddenly derailed while traveling at its cruising speed of approximately 300 km/h, coming to a stop across the adjacent track.

In a tragic coincidence, a Renfe high-speed train, operating the Madrid-Huelva route with 200 people on board, arrived at the scene at that precise moment, crashing head-on into the wreckage of the first train before its two lead cars were thrown into a four-meter-deep ravine, causing irreparable structural damage.

Rescue workers, deployed in massive numbers throughout the night, faced scenes of devastation as they extricated the victims, while hundreds of stranded passengers were forced to sleep in train stations in Madrid, Cordoba, and Seville following the complete shutdown of the strategic line linking the capital to the south of the country.

While traffic is expected to remain heavily disrupted at least throughout Monday, this disaster, the worst since the opening of the Spanish rail network to competition, raises crucial questions about the integrity of the ERTMS automatic signaling and safety systems on this heavily used section of track.

Rail authorities and the Ministry of Transport have launched a priority technical investigation to determine whether a failure in nighttime maintenance or a structural defect in the track caused the initial derailment of the Iryo, while the Spanish government is preparing to declare three days of national mourning in tribute to the victims of this unprecedented collision.