Following a collision between two high-speed trains in southern Spain, the death toll has risen to 39, Spanish media has reported.
An evening train between Málaga and Madrid derailed, jumping on to the track in the opposite direction and hitting an oncoming service, which also derailed, authorities said.
Spanish police said an additional 159 people were injured, with five in critical condition. At least 73 people are in hospital, 24 of them seriously hurt, and four children are among the injured too.
But what does the data on Spain’s train crashes say, and which are the safest European railways?
How safe are Spain’s trains?
In 2013, Spain made international headlines when 80 people died and 140 were left injured following a derailment on a high-speed train in Santiago de Compostela in the north-west of the country. The train’s data recorder showed that it had been travelling at twice the speed limit when it entered a curve on the track.
After that, only seven people died in the country between 2015 and 2024 due to derailing and collisions, according to the latest data from European statistics agency Eurostat. A further 37 were seriously injured in this timeframe.
However, though serious injuries and deaths remained low in the country due to collisions and derailments, in 2023 a total of 192 rail accidents were recorded, representing an increase of almost 10 per cent compared to the previous year.
Of these, there was a decrease of approximately 18 per cent in serious accidents compared to 2022.
How does Spain compare to wider Europe?
Despite having two major crashes in the past 12 years, Spain’s record of serious injuries and fatalities remains lower than three of its European counterparts.
Germany, Greece and the Czech Republic were the top three for fatalities and serious injuries caused by derailments and collisions between 2015 and 2024, coming in at 119, 84 and 80 people respectively.
Tragedies in these countries included a 2023 head-on collision south of the Tempe Valley in Greece in 2023, in which 80 people died. In June last year, three people including the train driver died in south-west Germany due to a sewage spill causing derailment.
Spain narrowly missed out on the top three, slotting into fourth place with Austria (29), Bulgaria and Italy (22) and Poland (21) behind, but the latest crash is likely to bump the numbers up for next year’s dataset.
However, the country has a far more extensive high-speed rail network than those listed, with tracks spanning over 3,400 kilometres. It has the largest network in Europe and the second largest in the world after China.
The number of fatalities on EU-wide trains decreased by 1,245 people between 2010 and 2024, showing a reduction of almost 40 per cent in the period.
Which European countries have the lowest fatalities from train accidents?
Norway, Ireland, Latvia and Estonia were the safest countries for train travel in Europe with zero deaths caused by the transport recorded between 2015 and 2024.
Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Finland each reported one death each.
Other countries with fewer than five deaths include Sweden (three), and Portugal, Denmark and Croatia with four.
How does the UK compare?
Between 2014 and 2020, just two people were killed or seriously injured in the UK, Eurostat recorded.
However, that’s not to say accidents do not occur. Last November, an Avanti West Coast train derailed after hitting a landslide in Cumbria, injuring four people.
The year before, two trains collided head-on near Llanbrynmair Powys. One person died following the collision whilst four had serious injuries.
While the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) does not distinguish data on train crashes in the same manner as Eurostat, it recorded that 11 fatalities happened due to trains between 2024 and 2025, with a further 1,254 people hospitalised.
The data does not clearly indicate if this happened as a result of collision or derailment. The i Paper has reached out to the ORR for further comment.
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What does this mean for the 2030 FIFA World Cup?
If the latest crash is anything to go by, football fans might be understandably wary of boarding one of Spain’s trains for 2030’s World Cup, which will be hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, and hosted in cities such as Barcelona and Madrid.
Spain’s high-speed trains are central to tourism in the country, which is popular with rail travellers because of its extensive network.
Its transport minister, Óscar Puente, called the incident “highly unusual”, noting that the train was less than four years old and the stretch of track had been renovated last year. An investigation into the cause is underway and safety measures are expected to be tightened.
The i Paper has contacted the European Union Agency for Railways for comment.
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