BARCELONA: Spain’s railway system was below scrutiny on Wednesday (Jan 21) after a commuter service crashed close to Barcelona, days after at least 43 people were killed in a collision between two high-speed trains.
A practice driver died and 37 individuals had been injured – a number of severely – within the newest incident late on Tuesday. The commuter practice hit a retaining wall that fell onto the tracks in Gelida close to Barcelona, regional officers mentioned.
Railway operator Adif mentioned the wall possible collapsed attributable to heavy rainfall that has swept throughout Spain’s northeastern area of Catalonia in current days.
Spain was already reeling from Sunday’s collision within the southern area of Andalusia, the nation’s deadliest rail accident in additional than a decade.
One other physique was recovered on Wednesday on the website of the accident close to the village of Adamuz, bringing the confirmed dying toll to 43, authorities mentioned.
“That is an excessive amount of,” the pinnacle of the conservative principal opposition Common Occasion, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, wrote on X. His get together demanded an “fast clarification” of the state of the nation’s railways.
Chatting with reporters on Tuesday earlier than the Barcelona-area crash, far-right get together Vox’s spokeswoman Pepa Millan mentioned Spaniards had been now “afraid to get on a practice”.
Raluca Maria Pasca, a 45-year-old waitress, mentioned she had observed that high-speed trains “have been shaking currently”.
“I’ve felt it myself. They should repair the issue,” she informed AFP on the practice station within the southern metropolis of Cordoba.
Alexandra Leroy, a restaurant proprietor from France who was on vacation in Cordoba, mentioned she was now “slightly” fearful to take the practice.
“If it simply occurred in Barcelona too, twice, that is rather a lot,” she added.
