Shock and confusion as officials struggle for answers

Sunday’s high-speed train crash in southern Spain, the worst in over a decade, has been a devastating tragedy for the country, with the loss of at least 42 lives.

And amid the grief, many are asking what could have caused such a failure on one of Europe’s most admired rail systems.

The CIAF rail investigatory commission has started analysing why a train travelling north from Málaga was derailed on a straight section of the route, causing it to collide with an oncoming train, which was also derailed.

The Spanish government has described the accident as “extremely strange”.

Three bodies already located in the wreckage were recovered on Tuesday afternoon, and a 42nd victim was also found at the crash site near Adamuz.

The shock felt in this sleepy town has been compounded by confusion at how a rail route that ran efficiently for so long suddenly failed.

After its inauguration in 1992, Spain’s high-speed rail, or AVE, network was seen as a symbol of the country’s modernisation. Built with EU funds, it provided a state-of-the-art transport system that was fast, efficient and safe.

A derailment near Santiago de Compostela in 2013 that killed 80 people was not part of the AVE network, although that train was travelling at high speed. Sunday’s collision, however, took place on the oldest AVE route, that which connects Madrid with Andalusia.

Several officials, including the president of Renfe, the national rail operator, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, said that human error was almost certainly not the cause of the accident, given that neither train was travelling at an excessive speed. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska insisted that sabotage was not a possible cause.

Inevitably, investigators are looking closely at the train that derailed.

Owned by Italian firm Iryo, it was manufactured in 2022. Transport Minister Óscar Puente said that carriage number six of the train was going to be examined closely, because it was the first to derail and it offered “many pieces of the puzzle”.

However, investigators are also examining the section of track where the derailment occurred and intend to analyse parts of it in a laboratory.

The revelation that part of the track at the crash site was broken has encouraged speculation that this might be the culprit.

The government has been keen to play down such conclusions, pointing out that the track may have been damaged by the force of the collision.

Some observers have drawn attention to possible underlying factors on the network.

It has emerged that rail infrastructure administrator Adif drew attention to eight technical issues on the line near where the accident happened on social media over the last year. Most of those issues were related to signalling, and last summer one was discussed in the Senate.

Adif has reduced the speed limit for the AVE along a 150-km (93-mile) stretch between Madrid and Barcelona, due to concerns about the state of the line. The new limit along that section is 160km/h, nearly half the previous limit.

Since the collision, many social media users have flagged posts from the past in which they had complained about uncomfortable movement while travelling on AVE trains.

One user filmed the interior of a train vigorously vibrating in December, commenting that it had caused them to “fear for my safety and that of my daughter”.

In August 2025, train drivers’ union Semaf issued a communiqué warning that the state of a number of AVE lines was causing “a lack of comfort and reliability” for those travelling.

It called for a reduction in speed limits in order to prevent further degradation of the infrastructure and “to guarantee the safety of workers and travellers”.

Such grievances might suggest that Spain’s high-speed rail network is badly in need of an overhaul. However, the government counters that last year the section of track where the accident took place was renovated, at a cost of €49m (£42m), as part of a broader €700m investment to update the Madrid-Andalusia network in recent years.

“When we find the answer, with absolute transparency we will make it known to Spaniards,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, said of the investigation, as he declared three day’s mourning during his visit to Adamuz.

That answer could have enormous significance for the future of Spain’s renowned rail system.