A broken rail is the suspected cause of the tragic accident at Adamuz on the Madrid - Seville high-speed line in southern Spain on January 18. A high-speed train operated by Iryo derailed and was strucky by an oncoming Renfe service on the adjacent track, killing 46 people. Two further derailments the same week on the Rodalies commuter network in Catalonia heightened the scrutiny of safety on the national network, and left the government and infrastructure manager Adif with difficult questions to answer.
The shocking images of the destruction at Adamuz were a sobering reminder of the fine line that infrastructure managers tread between safe operation and disaster. Initial findings from the scene have identified a failed weld as the expected cause of the rail break and derailment. However, it is likely to be many weeks if not months before Spain’s Rail Accident Investigation Commission (CIAF) releases its final report identifying the precise causes of the accident and makes its recommendations for preventing similar accidents in the future.
Thankfully, accidents on this scale are extremely rare. High-speed rail has an exemplary safety record, with only a handful of fatal accidents recorded since the first high-speed train operated in Japan in 1964. The primary focus on safety in rail operations of any kind, and leaving nothing to chance, is generally serving the sector well. Hundreds of thousands of trains are operating around the world without incident every day and the number of accidents reported by infrastructure managers has been steadily falling for many years.
Indeed, according to the International Union of Railways (UIC), the number of accidents recorded by the 33 infrastructure managers from Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and North America that it surveys for its annual safety report fell from 2260 in 2010 to 1637 in 2024, the most recently available figures. Derailments were the cause of 8.4% of all accidents in 2024, the third most common cause, with a person hit by a train (59.7%) and a train colliding with an obstacle (26.6%) continuing to account for the vast majority.
While the number of accidents did increase in 2022-2024 compared with pre-pandemic figures from 2019, UIC data shows that the rate of fatalities and victims per train-km had decreased by 2024, suggesting individual incidents are causing fewer deaths. However, the report is clear that efforts to improve safety must continue to be prioritised.
Spain’s rail industry has engaged in a period of collective soul-searching since Adamuz and the events in Catalonia.
“The increase in level crossing accidents and traffic-disrupting events, along with persistent staff casualties, highlight that railway safety remains a critical and evolving challenge,” the report says. “Sustained efforts in prevention, data quality, and targeted interventions are essential to reverse the upward trend in accidents to ensure safer, more resilient railway operations.”
Spain’s rail industry has engaged in a period of collective soul-searching since Adamuz and the events in Catalonia. The immediate response by government has been to throw more money and resources at the issue, warding off industrial action by unions demanding that network safety is guaranteed.
Minister of transport and sustainable mobility, Óscar Puente, confirmed that new funding agreements would be signed for 2026-2030, increasing the amount provided to Adif and its high-speed counterpart Adif AV by €1.85bn up to 2030. The workforce will also be increased by 2400 posts up to 2030. In addition, maintenance spending will double on lines in Catalonia used by Rodalies services, with €1.83bn allocated over the next five years.
While the additional money is welcome - and might appear as an admission that these activities have been underfunded in recent years - the findings of the final report into the accident at Adamuz appear crucial in determining any kind of long-term response or cultural changes within the infrastructure manager itself. Information provided by Puente at a press conference following the publication of CIAF’s initial report indicates that maintenance of the line was not neglected in the run-up to the accident, far from it. Track renewal of the section in question was completed in June 2025, with 114 welds inspected and formally accepted, with approval valid until November 2026. Subsequent ultrasonic, dynamic and manual inspection of track and points, the last of which took place 11 days before the accident, also revealed no faults.
The incidents in Catalonia are indicative of the wider challenges facing infrastructure managers in Spain and around the world. The accident at Gelida on January 20, in which a trainee driver travelling in the cab was killed, occurred during a period of heavy rain which caused a section of concrete retaining wall to collapse and foul the track. Heavy rainfall and severe storms have also caused prolonged line closures throughout Spain and other European countries this winter. The impact of severe flooding in Valencia in 2024 is also still fresh in the memory while an avalanche in southern Switzerland that caused a derailment, fortunately without major injuries, as recently as February 16 demonstrates that these hazards are ever-present.
Unfortunately, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent as climate change takes hold, placing infrastructure under ever-greater strain. The need for adequate levels of funding to maintain rail infrastructure to the highest possible standards has never been more acute. The tragic events in Spain should therefore act as the clearest possible reminder to governments of the need to increase funding for infrastructure maintenance in the years ahead, as we argued in our 10-point plan for global rail growth.
Infrastructure managers must at the same time be mindful of using this money wisely. While funding is limited, investment in monitoring systems and weather forecasting equipment can help to target maintenance investment and inform decision-making at crucial moments. This is especially important when lives are literally on the line. One death on the railway is always too many. But without adequate political and financial support, the industry could increasingly find itself paying lip service to its objective of always putting safety first.
