This accident appears similar to the Eschede train disaster in 1998

Adamuz, an accident not so “strange” if we see a photo shared by Óscar Puente

Esp 1·19·2026 · 6:07 0

The terrible train accident in Adamuz (Córdoba) is giving rise to all kinds of speculation and hasty assessments.

Reuters reveals the discovery of a broken joint on one of the tracks in the Adamuz accident
Information about the tragic accident involving two derailed trains in Adamuz

One of those assessments was issued by the Minister of Transport. During the press conference he held after midnight, Óscar Puente declared: "It's an extremely strange accident. It's a straight track. All the railway experts we've spoken to are extremely puzzled because, as I said, it's unusual."

Puente made that statement from the ADIF 24-Hour Network Management Center (CGRH24), located in Madrid and from where the state of the Spanish railway infrastructure dependent on that public company is permanently monitored. In this photo posted by @sanchezdelreal we see the minister speaking to the media with a large screen behind him. Yesterday, at 9:15 p.m., the minister posted this photo of that same screen (click on the image to enlarge it):

What we see on that screen is a diagram of the accident zone. In the upper left, there is text that says "379 messages/minute," which most likely refers to the automatic alerts that the control center is receiving from the accident zone. The image was taken at 9:12 PM CET. We also see two lines, which correspond to the tracks that pass in front of Adamuz station, which is a switching point (PB), that is, a place where there is a switch that allows trains to change from one track to another.

In the following enlargement we can see the area of ​​the incident better. We see on the right a white rectangle, which identifies the Loma del Partidor tunnel, located about 1,400 meters southwest of the Adamuz PB.

On the left side of this diagram we see a white label with the number 06189. This is the identifier for the ETR 1000 LD AV Iryo train 6189, which was traveling from Málaga towards Madrid Atocha, the first train to derail. Slightly further to the right we see another white identifier with the number 02384. This is the identifier for the Renfe Alvia S-120 LD AV train 2384, which collided with the Iryo train, also derailing.

The red lines on the diagram indicate that a train is occupying the track. They correspond to the positions where the trains would have been, with the ETR 1000 ahead of the Adamuz PB and the Renfe Alvia a few hundred meters to the southwest, closer to the tunnel. To the right of the tunnel on the diagram, we see another train, identified as number 02181. This is the AVE 02181, which runs daily between Seville Santa Justa and Madrid Atocha, departing from Seville station at 6:45 PM. This train likely stopped when the overhead power line lost voltage due to the accident in Adamuz.

Between the wrecked trains and the Loma del Partidor tunnel, we see a diagonal line marked with the numbers A644/A645. This is a switch, specifically the one located about 700 meters southwest of the Adamuz rail station. This switch is at the accident site. Its purpose is to transfer trains from the track the Iryo train was traveling on to the parallel track to the right, should this switch be necessary. You can see it here on Google Maps marked with a red marker:

To the northeast of the Adamuz PB station there is another switch, which we can see in the photo published by the minister with the identifier A631 / A632. This switch has the exact opposite orientation to A644 / A645. Historically, switches are critical points in the railway network and accidents are more likely to occur at these points than on normal straight sections. Any railway expert should have told the minister this.

In fact, what we know about what happened yesterday is that the derailment occurred precisely at that turnout. Everything seems to indicate that after derailing at that switch, the Iryo ETR 1000 reached the Adamuz PB station, located 700 meters away, a braking distance that is not unusual considering the speed at which the train must have been traveling (the Adamuz PB station are the two buildings we see on the left in this video from @ibuprofeno600mg; what we see overturned is the locomotive that was at the end of the train):

That said, yesterday at 10:42 PM CET, Óscar Puente posted a message stating:

"The latest information is very serious. The last units of the Iryo train heading towards Madrid have derailed, with those cars encroaching on the opposite track where a Renfe train was traveling towards Huelva. The impact was terrible, causing the first two units of the Renfe train to be thrown off the track."

Óscar Puente posted that message before the press conference in which he stated that this accident is "extremely strange," attributing that assessment to "all the railway experts we have spoken to." What is most shocking is that the minister didn't even mention the presence of that switch, whose role must have been key in the derailment. Perhaps he was afraid that the focus of attention would be on the infrastructure, since it is under the government's jurisdiction.

Let's remember that on December 23, less than a month ago, ADIF reported delays on that section due to "a breakdown in one of the turnouts between Adamuz and Córdoba". I've been checking that railway line on Google Maps and there are no more track switches until La Vega del Montón de la Tierra, 5 km from the city of Córdoba, so it's very likely that the breakdown occurred at the A644/A645 switch, where yesterday's terrible accident happened.

Having said that, I must make a clarification: the fact that the switch played a key role in this accident does not mean it was the cause, or at least the only cause. Accidents usually occur due to a combination of factors, and the one in Adamuz appears to have been caused by at least two distinct factors. One of those factors would have been the switch, even if it was in perfect condition. The other factor is unknown, at least at this time, pending the investigation by the commission.

The precedent of the terrible train accident in Eschede in 1998

Taking into account what the minister pointed out, the partial derailment of the last passenger cars of the Iryo train is very reminiscent of what happened in the terrible train accident in Eschede, Germany, which occurred on June 3, 1998, when an Intercity-Express (ICE) Trainset 51, ICE 884 "Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen", suffered a failure when a steel rim on one of its wheels broke. This failure caused vibrations in the train (yesterday, a few minutes after the Adamuz accident, a passenger stated that "about 10 minutes after leaving the train started to shake a lot", right after which the derailment occurred; one has to wonder if this was due to some internal or external problem that disturbed the normal operation of the train).

In the 1998 accident, that damaged wheel on ICE 884 ended up colliding with a switch, causing the train cars to start running on two separate tracks. Eventually, many of them derailed, and some crashed into a bridge, destroying it. The disaster resulted in 101 deaths and 88 injuries. It remains the worst high-speed rail accident in the world. Two years ago, the YouTube channel UnReal posted this video showing how it happened:

So, we're not dealing with such a "strange" accident. Personally, I don't know the minister's intention in making that assessment, but reviewing the facts, I can imagine it. Let's remember that in May 2025, Puente already spread a hoax attributing the railway chaos in Spain to sabotage, a hypothesis that was ultimately discarded and for which Puente provided no evidence or indication whatsoever. What is really strange is that the minister overlooked any mention yesterday of that needle change, even considering that nothing indicates, at least for the moment, that it was the cause of the accident.

+ UPDATED 7:54 AM: Two hours ago, The Objective published: "The Iryo train derailed in Adamuz at a point that had been causing problems for weeks. Renfe sources consulted by this publication point to a possible break in the rail weld that connected the track switch in Adamuz.

+ UPDATED 10:49 AM: The newspaper El Mundo publishes these two photos from the Civil Guard showing the Renfe Alvia train derailed in Adamuz. On the tracks, we can see the rails of the A644/A645 switch that I refer to in this article. In the first photo, we see one of these rails very close to the outer rail of one of the tracks. Due to its proximity, it appears to be the area where the turnout begins. In the second photo, we see four rails on the same track to the left. Two of them correspond to the aforementioned switch.

+ UPDATED 17:35h: At 17:06h, El Mundo published this news: "The investigation into the Adamuz train accident focuses on a track failure as the cause of the accident". The news report states: "Technicians present at the scene of the accident claim that the welding failure could have led to a track break due to traffic and weather conditions. This break is what may have derailed the last cars of the Frecciarossa 1000, which was traveling at over 200 kilometers per hour, causing them to cross into oncoming traffic." Therefore, this could be the other previously unknown external factor I referred to in the article. In any case, we will have to wait for the investigation.

Related to this, at 2:13 PM CET, The Objective published: "The Civil Guard locates several sections of broken track where the Iryo train involved in the accident was traveling." The article notes that sources close to the investigation indicate that "it is too early to draw conclusions, given that it is not yet known whether these broken sections of track are a 'cause' or a 'consequence' of the fatal accident." The news report includes this photo from the Civil Guard showing a break in one of the rails:

At 3:34 PM CET, the Civil Guard published this video, in which we see, at the beginning, investigators taking photos of the A644/A645 switch. At the end of the video, we see the overturned rear locomotive of the Iryo ETR 1000 train, the first train to derail:

In this other video published by the Civil Guard at 13:00 CET we see the large deformation caused by the accident on one of the tracks (towards the middle of the video):

On its website, the Civil Guard has published this photo showing investigators taking pictures of the accident site next to two derailed carriages of the Renfe Alvia train. On the left, we see part of the A644/A645 switch.

+ UPDATED 20:25h: Reuters reveals the discovery of a broken joint on one of the tracks in the Adamuz accident.

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