US EditionSpain’s Rail Safety Crisis: Nationwide Strike After Tragic Derailments
The strike follows two deadly derailments causing 43 deaths and nearly 200 injuries, with unions demanding urgent safety reviews and criminal liability investigations.
- On Wednesday, Semaf called a general strike after two accidents in Adamuz, Córdoba, and Gelida, Barcelona.
- After the crashes, unions demanded urgent safety reviews, rigorous investigations of Adamuz and Barcelona, and concrete commitments with adequate resources from administrations, infrastructure managers and operating companies.
- Semaf halted Rodalies services following the incidents, stopping all traffic after the Gelida and Macanet accidents, while short-distance Cercanías and Media Distancia services in Catalonia remain suspended pending safety checks.
- The union leadership announced court action alongside strike plans, with Semaf saying the strike is the first of several measures and CC OO warning it will join if safety is not revised.
- To avoid new incidents, unions urged preventive speed reductions and strict verifications, while Semaf recommended workers unable to provide safe service notify supervisors under order FOM 2872/2010 after three drivers' deaths.
24 Articles
24 Articles
The derailment of a train in southern Spain, followed a short distance from a new incident on the Rodalies network in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, brought back to the center of the public debate a question that goes far beyond the chronicle. Two episodes geographically distant but tied by a common thread: the structural crisis of the Spanish regional and suburban rail transport, crushed for years between infrastructural deficiencies, ques…
Spain was shocked this week by two fatal train accidents in three days. Train drivers are raising the alarm, calling for a general rail strike. Concerns have been mounting for some time. Last year, the train drivers' union sent a letter to rail infrastructure manager Adif warning about rail safety. The question now arises: is this a coincidence or does it point to a structural problem in the infrastructure? The SEMAF union cited several sections…
Since the beginning of the week, several rail accidents have affected Spain, resulting in 43 deaths and many injuries in Andalusia and 1 death in Catalonia.
Spain's largest train driver union, SEMAF, has called for a nationwide strike after the two loopholes of the past few days.
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