Spain's transport minister addresses Cordoba train crash causes: 'We don't know yet, it's a freak accident'

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Óscar Puente has said that the incident happened on a straight stretch of the railway corridor, involving 'a relatively new train and a recently renovated track'

Edurne Martínez

Monday, 19 January 2026, 11:06

Spain's minister of transport Óscar Puente held a press conference shortly after midnight following the major railway accident that happened near the Adamuz station in Cordoba on Sunday evening, which claimed the lives of at least 39 people.

Puente said that the causes are unknown at the moment. He called the crash a "freak accident", given that it involved "a relatively new train" of Italian low-cost company Iryo, which has been in operation for fewer than four years. In addition, the minister said that the track has been "recently renovated" and that the accident occurred on a straight section.

"The derailment occurred at 7.45pm for reasons that are still unknown," Puente said during from the Adif centre in Madrid, when the number of known deceased victims was 21. Since then, the figure has risen to 39. The minister also stated that all passengers who needed to be hospitalised had already been transferred by ambulance.

Puente said that "all railway experts" are shocked by the unusual nature of the accident. When asked when high-speed train services would resume between the capital and Andalucía, the minister simply said: "We'll see tomorrow." Following such a serious crash, not only do the affected trains have to be removed, but there also needs to be an in-depth investigation covering the entire area.

DRIVERS HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR HIGH-SPEED TRAINS TO SLOW DOWN

The minister does not understand how this fatal accident could have happened with a train that was barely four years old, on a straight section of the track that had been "renovated in May", with 700 million euros invested in the Madrid-Seville line.

Addressing the problems that high-speed trains have been experiencing in recent months, the minister denied that "occasional delays" could be linked to this type of accident. "The only thing that concerns me are the victims," Puente said.

However, it should be noted that in August last year, the biggest train drivers' union, Semaf, urged Adif and the state railway safety agency (AESF) to reduce the maximum speed of trains on the lines connecting Madrid with Seville, Malaga, Valencia and Barcelona, asking for it to go from 300 kilometres per hour to 250. Train drivers were complaining about the accumulation of faults in the tracks, which cause the trains to "vibrate a lot".