Spain suffers FIFTH train crash in days after landslide in rail tunnel

According to railway firms Adif and Renfe, the Cercanías Asturias service sustained damage to the front of its cab after striking a rockfall.

Following the collision, the driver halted the train to verify passenger safety before proceeding onwards to Oviedo station, where the journey concluded without further incident.

Rail services on the C1 commuter line remain suspended between Ablaña and Olloniego as a result of the rockfall.

Renfe has implemented a contingency plan providing bus transfers for affected passengers travelling between Ablaña, located in the Mieres municipality, and Soto del Rey in Ribera de Arriba.

Repair crews are currently working to restore normal operations as quickly as possible.

The disruption is confined to local commuter and freight services, meaning long-distance rail connections through the region continue to operate unaffected.

Only trains serving the immediate area use the damaged section of track, limiting the broader impact on the Spanish rail network.

The incident has intensified frustration among train drivers, who claim they raised concerns about the tunnel's deteriorating state for months before Thursday's collision.

"We've been warning for at least six months that this tunnel was in bad shape, but no action is taken, they don't listen to us. Things like this have to happen for them to react," one driver told El Comercio.

Despite these repeated warnings from staff, authorities had not introduced a Temporary Speed Restriction on the affected stretch of track as a precautionary measure, according to sources cited by the Spanish newspaper.

It was the latest in five crashes which have struck Spain in just days, after another commuter train crashed into a construction crane in southeastern Spain hpurs earlier.

The incident left an undetermined number of people lightly injured.

A spokesman for emergency services in the southeastern Murcia region said: "The train hasn't been overturned nor derailed."

The crash occurred near Murcia's Cartagena.

It came after Sunday's deadly high-speed train collision in the southern Andalusia region that killed at least 43 people and two other crashes in Catalonia on Tuesday.

Spanish rail operator Adif said on X traffic on that line was interrupted due to "the intrusion into the infrastructure gauge by a crane not belonging to the railway operation", without providing further details.

A commuter train derailed on Tuesday after a retaining wall collapsed onto the track during heavy rains near Barcelona, killing the driver and seriously injuring four passengers.

A third derailment of a train on Barcelona's regional network, which left no injuries, was caused by a rock falling on the line during the same storm.

Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter