One dead and 20 injured after train derails in Spain – just days after high-speed crash killed 40
A train has derailed near Barcelona, killing at least one and injuring 20 in a horrifying crash just days after a high-speed train crash left 40 dead.
The R4 commuter train, which was between Sant Sadurní d’Anoia and Gelida stations, collided with the wall at 9pm local time.
Local media reported that the wall had apparently fallen due to heavy rains in the region.
Spanish broadcaster TVE said that four people were seriously injured, while one person was fighting for their life. Local police said that the person who died was the train driver.
Catalan emergency services said their teams are treating injured people still at the scene. The authorities did not provide further details about the condition of those hurt in the crash.
So far, 11 ambulances and a brigade of 38 firefighting crews have been sent to the scene of the incident.
Local firefighters said they had established a ‘safety zone’ and have ‘shored up the retaining wall and the train to stabilise them’, adding that they are working to get those injured in the crash out as soon as possible.
Hospitals in the region are making preparations to receive the injured.
Emergency crews respond after a commuter train derailed when a retaining wall collapsed onto the tracks in Gelida, near Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026
Firemen work at the place where a train crashed with a collapsed wall which fell to the via at Gelida city in Barcelona, Spain, January 20 2026
Local media reported that heavy rainfall hit the Catalonia region in recent days, which came from a powerful easterly storm that peaked yesterday.
It comes just days after the deadly high-speed rail crash that killed 40, which occurred in Adamuz, near the city of Córdoba, at around 6.40pm local time on Sunday.
Sunday’s tragedy saw one train derail and cross over onto another track, with a second ploughing into the wreckage.
The tail end of a train carrying some 300 passengers on the route from Malaga to the capital, Madrid, went off the rails at 7.45pm.
An incoming train, which was travelling from Madrid to Huelva and carrying nearly 200 passengers, slammed into the derailed vehicle.
The second train took the brunt of the impact after the collision knocked its first two carriages off the track and sent them plummeting down a 13ft slope.
Officials said that it appeared the largest number of the deaths occurred in those carriages.
At the moment of the collisions, both trains were travelling at over 120mph, according to the Spanish Transport Ministry.
Local firefighters said they had established a ‘safety zone’ and have ‘shored up the retaining wall and the train to stabilise them’
Hospitals in the region are making preparations to receive the injured
At least 39 people are confirmed dead following a high-speed train collision in southern Spain. Pictured: Emergency workers are seen at the site where a high-speed Iryo train derailed and was hit by another train as rescue efforts continue in Adamuz, southern Spain, on January 19
Officials said some passengers were catapulted through windows, their bodies found hundreds of yards from the crash site
Both trains were travelling well under the speed limit of 155mph with one going at 127mph and the other at 130mph, according to the president of Spain’s national state-owned railway company Alvaro Fernandez.
He also said that ‘human error could be ruled out.’
A source told Reuters on Monday night that a broken joint had been found on the track but officials are yet to confirm this.
The accident shook a nation that leads Europe in high-speed train mileage and takes pride in a network that is considered at the cutting edge of rail transport.
Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia visited the scene of the accident, where they greeted emergency workers as well as some local residents who helped in the initial stages of the rescue.
Afterwards, they went to hospital in Cordoba where many of the injured remain under care.
‘We are all responsible for not looking away when the debris of a catastrophe is being cleared away,’ said Letizia to reporters after the visit.
