One killed and 37 injured in Spain train crash days after deadly Adamuz collision

A commuter train struck a retaining wall that fell on its tracks due to heavy rain and got derailed in Spain on Tuesday, killing the driver and injuring at least 37 passengers.

This is the second accident to hit Spanish railways in just two days after 42 people were killed in a high-speed train collision and derailment near Adamuz in the southern Córdoba province on Sunday.

Tuesday’s accident near the Spanish city of Barcelona left five people seriously injured, Spanish authorities said.

Emergency services said 20 ambulances had been sent to the site of the crash, and the injured were taken to hospitals in the area. Regional firefighters said most of the injured had ridden in the first train car.

Emergency workers on Tuesday were still searching for more victims in the wreckage from Sunday's deadly train accident that took place some 800km away as the nation began three days of mourning.

Claudi Gallardo, inspector at the Catalonia regional fire department, said in televised comments from the site of the crash that 37 people had been injured, adding that all passengers had been removed from the train.

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Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez acknowledged the Barcelona area crash, writing on X: "All my affection and solidarity with the victims and their families."

While Spain's high-speed rail network generally runs smoothly, and at least until Sunday had been a source of confidence, the commuter rail service is plagued by reliability issues. However, accidents causing injury or death are not common in either.

The commuter train crashed near the town of Gelida, located about 35 minutes outside of Barcelona.

Police in Catalonia said the Central Airport and Public Transport Area, which is responsible for investigating railway accidents, has launched initial investigations into the accident.

Spain's railway operator Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF) said the containment wall likely collapsed due to heavy rainfall that swept across the northeastern Spanish region this week. Commuter train service was canceled along the line, it said.

The suburban train derailment occurred in an area long plagued by underfunded rail services and frequent incidents.

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A support centre for relatives of those affected by the accident has been set up at the Casablanca Urbanisation civic centre, the civil protection agency added.

In a separate incident on Tuesday night, traffic between Blanes and Maçanet-Massanes south of the city of Girona - also part of the Barcelona commuter rail network - was interrupted "due to a train axle coming off the track", Adif said in a statement on X.

On Sunday, 42 people were killed and dozens more injured when two high-speed trains collided in southern Spain on Sunday evening, in one of Europe’s worst railway accidents in 80 years.

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The crash happened at 7.45pm local time near Adamuz, a town of about 5,000 people in the province of Córdoba, according to Spain’s interior ministry.

The tail end of a train run by private high-speed rail operator Iryo, travelling from Málaga to Madrid, was derailed and jumped onto an adjacent track, where it smashed into an oncoming Renfe service travelling from Madrid to Huelva, a municipality in Spain. Renfe is Spain's national state-owned railway company.

Adif said the Iryo train derailed first and crashed into the second train, pushing it off the tracks and down a railway embankment.