Spanish rail union calls nationwide strike as death toll from train crashes rises to 46

Spain’s largest train drivers’ union has called a three-day nationwide strike to demand measures to guarantee the safety of rail workers and passengers after two deadly crashes this week that killed at least 46 people, including two drivers.

- Sam Jones

The death toll from Sunday’s collision between two trains near the Andalucían town of Adamuz rose from 43 to 45 yesterday afternoon after two more bodies were recovered from the crash site. On Tuesday, a driver was killed and 37 people injured when a train was derailed by the collapse of a retaining wall near Gelida in Catalonia.

A number of people were also lightly injured yesterday when a commuter train in the southeastern region of Murcia crashed into a crane. Authorities said the incident had been caused by “the intrusion... of a crane not belonging to the railway operation”, and the train was not derailed or overturned.

The accidents in Adamuz and Gelida led the Spanish railway drivers’ union Semaf to announce industrial action. They have also prompted a stoppage by drivers, shutting down Catalonia’s regional rail services and affecting about 400,000 travellers.