A fracture in a straight section of track occurred prior to the passage of a high-speed train that derailed, causing last Sunday's rail disaster in which 45 people died, an initial report has found.
A train run by private company Iryo derailed last Sunday and its rear carriages crossed onto the opposite track into the path of an oncoming train run by state-owned Renfe.
The CIAF rail investigation commission stated that not only did the Iryo train's front carriages, which remained on the track, have notches in their wheels, but three earlier trains that traversed the track had similar defects.
A gap of almost 40 cm (15 in) in the track has now become a focal point of the investigation.
The collision occurred at around 19:45 local time (18:45 GMT), shortly after the Iryo train left Málaga for Madrid. The last three carriages of the train derailed, colliding with the Huelva-bound Renfe train, resulting in most deaths occurring in the front carriages of the state-operated train.
Earlier this week, Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente confirmed that grooves were found on the Iryo train's carriages, indicating a potential crack in the track. Investigators are examining the geometry of the notches found on multiple train wheels, suggesting a disastrous failure may have occurred minutes or hours before the derailment.
This tragic event marks Spain's worst rail disaster in over a decade, raising concerns about train safety and infrastructure reliability. The community continues to search for answers as efforts are made to understand how such a disaster could unfold without detection.
