Investigation Reveals Track Fracture Before Spain's High-Speed Train Disaster

Sun Jan 25 2026 23:41:28 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

A preliminary report indicates that the track fracture causing the recent high-speed train derailment in Spain occurred before the train's passage, leading to a tragedy that claimed 45 lives.

An initial investigation into the recent train disaster in Spain revealed that a fracture in the track had occurred prior to the high-speed train's passage. This incident led to the derailment of the Iryo train, which collided with an oncoming Renfe train, resulting in 45 fatalities. The investigation focused on a 40cm gap in the track and notable notches in the train wheels, suggesting safety oversight before the deadly event.

A fracture in a straight section of track occurred prior to the passage of a high-speed train that derailed, causing last Sunday's rail disaster in which 45 people died, an initial report has found.

A train run by private company Iryo derailed last Sunday and its rear carriages crossed onto the opposite track into the path of an oncoming train run by state-owned Renfe.

The CIAF rail investigation commission stated that not only did the Iryo train's front carriages, which stayed on the track, have notches in their wheels, but three earlier trains that traversed the track earlier showed similar indications. A gap of nearly 40cm (15in) in the track has become a focal point of the investigation into the crash.

Sunday's deadly collision occurred around 19:45 local time (18:45 GMT), approximately an hour after the Iryo train departed Málaga for Madrid. The train's last three carriages - carriages six to eight - derailed and collided with the Huelva-bound Renfe train. Carriage six derailed due to a complete lack of continuity in the track, the preliminary report indicated.

Earlier this week, Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente confirmed reports that grooves were discovered on the wheels of the Iryo train's carriages, which had previously navigated over the track safely. These notches in the wheels and the deformation observed in the track are compatible with the fact that the track was cracked, the CIAF preliminary report stated.

The CIAF described its report as a working hypothesis, and emphasized that further detailed calculations and analysis are required for confirmation. The transport minister remarked that if the cause of the crash was indeed the fracture, it likely occurred just minutes or hours before the derailment and may not have been detectable at that time.

The Adamuz disaster marks Spain's gravest rail crash in over a decade, previously overshadowed by a catastrophic 2013 derailment in Galicia that resulted in 80 casualties.