Union is demanding better safety standards for workers and passengers after two collisions this week killed 44
Union is demanding better safety standards for workers and passengers after two collisions this week killed 44
Spain’s largest train drivers’ union has called a three-day nationwide strike to demand measures to guarantee the safety of rail workers and passengers after two deadly crashes this week killed at least 44 people, including two drivers.
At least 43 people died and dozens more were injured after two trains collided on Sunday near the town of Adamuz, in the Córdoba province in Andalucía. Two days later, a driver was killed and 37 people were injured when a train was derailed by the collapse of a retaining wall near Gelida in Catalonia.
On Thursday, a number of people were lightly injured when a commuter train in the south-eastern region of Murcia crashed into a crane. Authorities said the incident was caused by “the intrusion … of a crane not belonging to the railway operation”, and the train was not derailed or overturned.
The accidents in Adamuz and Gelida led the Spanish railway drivers’ union Semaf to announce industrial action. They have also prompted a stoppage by drivers that has shut down Catalonia’s regional rail services, affecting about 400,000 travellers.
The union said three days of strikes would be held from 9 to 11 February, saying the action was “the only legal avenue left for workers to demand the restoration of safety standards on the railway system and, consequently, guarantee the safety of both railway professionals and passengers”.
Semaf called for the relevant authorities to ensure people’s safety by addressing the “numerous reports” on poor track conditions that it said had gone “unanswered and inactive for months, or even years”.
