Dozens Killed After High-Speed Train Derails in Spain
More than three dozen people died in Spain after a high-speed train derailed and hit another coming from the opposite direction. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez canceled his trip to Davos and declared three days of mourning.
The last two carriages of the train traveling between Madrid and the coastal city of Málaga jumped the track, leading to the collision, according to a statement from Renfe, Spain’s publicly owned train company. At least 39 people died, Transport Minister Óscar Puente said in a post on X on Monday.
The accident took place around 7:45 p.m. local time on Sunday. The high-speed train, carrying about 300 passengers, belonged to Intermodalidad de Levante SA, which operates under the Iryo brand and is majority-owned by Italian state train operator Trenitalia SpA. The other service was run by Renfe.
Sánchez canceled his planned trip to Davos for the World Economic Forum because of the accident, one of the largest in Spain in recent decades. He had been scheduled to offer a keynote speech and hold a number of bilateral meetings.
The mourning period will start at midnight and run through Thursday, Sánchez told reporters Monday at the crash site at Adamuz in Córdoba region. He called for a united response to the tragedy.
“Today is a day of pain for all of Spain,” Sánchez said. Finding the reasons for the accident will take “time and the work of technicians.”
Spain has one of the world’s largest high-speed train networks and services have come under pressure in recent years with a surge in demand. Usage also increased after other players where allowed to start operating in 2018.
“The train was a relatively new train, that I think isn’t even four years old, and the rail network has been totally renovated,” Spain’s Puente said at a press conference early Monday. “It is a tremendously strange accident that happened on a straight stretch” of railway.
Italy’s transport minister, Matteo Salvini, told RTL 102.5 radio that the cause of the accident is “still unclear.”
La última información que llega es muy grave. Las últimas unidades del tren Iryo que iba dirección Madrid han descarrilado, invadiendo esos coches la vía contraria por la que en ese momento circulaba un tren de Renfe en dirección Huelva. El impacto ha sido terrible provocando que… https://t.co/mqewlNBmDf
— Óscar Puente (@oscar_puente_) January 18, 2026
Surviving passengers were evacuated, authorities said. Services between Madrid, Málaga and several other cities were suspended for all of Monday.
Iryo lines began service in late 2022 and became one of the largest high-speed train operations to emerge since Spain opened up the market for competition. The operator is is 51% owned by Trenitalia, with partners Air Nostrum and infrastructure investor Globalvia, and is among Trenitalia’s largest high-speed operations outside of Italy.
Another major high-speed service is offered by Ouigo, controlled by France’s state-run SNCF and operating in Spain since 2021.
Trenitalia parent Ferrovie dello Stato SpA said in a statement that it “expresses its condolences for the victims” and their families.
The Spanish government controls maintenance of railways through a company called Adif and operates regular trains and high-speed trains through Renfe. Other companies are allowed to offer high-speed services using existing networks.
In the past, Puente has said that Renfe’s competitors were offering services below market costs.
The chief executive officer of Ferrovie dello Stato told Bloomberg News in June that the company planned to sell minority stakes in its high-speed network to help finance further expansion.
Photograph: A derailed train on the tracks after a train collision in Adamuz, Spain, on Jan. 19, 2025. Photo credit: Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images