Spanish investigators have found that a fracture in the railway track existed before a high-speed train derailed in southern Spain last week, leading to one of the country’s deadliest rail disasters in years.
An initial report released by Spain’s railway accident investigation body said the damaged section of track showed clear signs of failure before the train passed over it. The incident occurred on Sunday evening when a private Iryo train derailed and its rear carriages crossed onto the opposite line, colliding with a Renfe service travelling in the opposite direction.
The crash happened at around 7:45 pm local time, roughly an hour after the Iryo train departed Málaga for Madrid. Investigators said the last three carriages of the train left the tracks, with the sixth carriage losing contact due to what they described as a complete break in the rail.
The report revealed that several trains had passed over the same section earlier that evening. Inspectors found similar markings on the wheels of those trains, suggesting the track damage existed before the accident. A gap measuring nearly 40 centimetres was discovered in the rail, now believed to be central to the investigation.
According to the findings, the first carriages of the Iryo train remained on the track but showed signs of wheel damage. Carriage five, which did not derail, had markings indicating the track may already have been shifting outward before the derailment occurred.
Officials said the most severe impact occurred when the derailed carriages struck the oncoming Renfe train, whose front coaches suffered the greatest damage. Most of the victims were travelling in those carriages.
Spain’s transport minister, Óscar Puente, confirmed earlier reports that grooves found on train wheels were consistent with a fractured rail. He added that while the evidence points to a track failure, further technical analysis is needed before reaching final conclusions.
Investigators stressed that the findings are preliminary and described them as a working theory that must be verified through additional testing and calculations. Authorities are continuing to examine whether the damage developed shortly before the crash and whether it could have been detected in time.
The accident, which killed 45 people and injured many others, is the deadliest rail disaster in Spain in more than a decade. The last incident of comparable scale occurred in 2013, when a high-speed train derailed in Galicia, killing 80 people.