Transport

Crane versus train, six lightly injured in new train accident in Spain

The Minister of Transport: a vehicle with a basket crane for public lighting in Cartagena invaded the space above the tracks with its arm, hitting the windows of a passing train

22 January 2026Aggiornato alle 14:25

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Membri della polizia spagnola e i primi soccorritori lavorano nella zona in cui un treno pendolare si è scontrato con una gru nel quarto incidente ferroviario del paese in meno di una settimana, con diverse persone rimaste lievemente ferite nell’incidente, vicino alla città portuale di Cartagena nella regione di Murcia, Spagna, 22 gennaio 2026. REUTERS/Loyola Perez de Villegas Muniz

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

This is the fourth train accident in four days in Spain
Madrid: "We will investigate responsibility for accident in Adamu<"

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

A new train accident occurred this morning at 12 noon in Spain on the local Cartagena-Los Nietos line in the southern region of Murcia. According to initial information, reported by the public broadcaster Tve, a Feve regional transport train collided with a crane in the locality of Alumbres. The convoy did not derail or overturn, the Efe agency reported.

Six passengers were slightly injured. They were two 18-year-old boys, one 26-year-old man, a 50-year-old man and two women aged 62 and 74.

The Spanish company Adif, which manages the railway infrastructure, announced on X that traffic was interrupted 'due to the presence of a crane unrelated to railway operations'.

Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente gave details on the dynamics of the train accident that occurred along the local Cartagena-Los Nietos line. "It is appropriate to provide correct information so as not to fall into error. A vehicle with a basket crane for public lighting in Cartagena invaded the space above the tracks with its arm, hitting the windows of a metric-gauge train that was passing at the time, the minister said on X, while the controversy in Spain over the maintenance of the rail network is growing.

This is the fourth train accident in five in Spain

The last one is dated 21 January 2020. It was a new train derailment that occurred near Gelida in Catalonia, causing the death of the driver and the injury of some 41 people, five of whom were in a serious condition.

Incident occurred three days after the train tragedy in Andalusia, Spain, which claimed at least 43 lives, of which 42 were identified, 2 were missing and 150 were injured,

Madrid: 'We will investigate responsibility for accident in Adamuz'

Responsibilities will be ascertained and whoever has them will have to assume them, for action or omission'. This was emphasised by the Spanish Minister of Transport, Oscar Lopez Puente, speaking about the train accident in Adamuz on the high-speed line, which caused on Sunday 43 deaths, of which 42 have been identified, while two people are still missing.

"There is no doubt that it could have been the via ferrata, but it is a very strange event, because the line has just been renewed and had passed all dynamic, geometric and visual tests," reported Puente.

If the source was the infrastructure, he explained, 'this would be a very critical defect that had not manifested itself so far'.

If, on the other hand, the problem was related to the Iryo convoy involved, 'it would be a big problem', he added, explaining that there are currently 20 trains of the same type circulating in Spain: 'The model has been approved by the railway authorities,' he pointed out.

"It's too early to draw conclusions," he reiterated, however, expressing confidence in the companies that carried out the modernisation work on the Madrid-Seville line, in particular the Spanish Ferrovial and Azvi. "They are companies of the utmost reliability and world references for high speed," he assured.

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