2006 Valencia metro accident
Encyclopedia
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
's third largest city, on July 3, 2006, at 1 p.m. CEST (1100 UTC) between Jesús and Plaça d'Espanya stations on the Line 1
Line 1 (Metro Valencia)
Line 1 is one of the five lines of Metrovalencia. It is the oldest line of the system, opened in 1988. The line has 59 stations with a total of 98.159 km . This makes Line 1 the longest line of the Metrovalencia, almost four times longer than the second one .On July 3, 2006, an accident...
of the Valencia Metro
Valencia Metro
Metrovalencia is a modern amalgamation of former FEVE narrow gauge diesel and electric operated suburban/regional railways. It is a large suburban network that crosses the city of Valencia, with all trains continuing out to far-flung suburbs. It also has destinations on lines that make it more...
mass transit
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
system. At least 43 people were killed and more than ten were seriously injured.
El País reports that Valencian forensic scientists have identified all but one of the victims — a woman whose family has not claimed her. Twenty-one of the victims were from Torrent
Torrent, Valencia
Torrent is a city located within the metropolitan area of the city of Valencia, Spain. It is the largest municipality of the Horta Sud comarca, with 79,843 inhabitants . It is situated some 7 km from Valencia city proper, to which it is connected via the...
, a locality seven kilometres from Valencia and the train's destination. Five more victims were from the city of Valencia itself, and two were from Paiporta
Paiporta
Paiporta is a municipality in the comarca of Horta Sud in the Valencian Community, Spain....
, which is also nearby.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, which occurred at a curve just outside of Jesús station. However, data from the train's black box
Event recorder
A Train event recorder is similar to the flight data recorder found on aircraft. It records data about the operation of train controls and performance in response to those controls and other train control systems.Data storage is provided by magnetic tape, battery-backed RAM and, most recently,...
showed that the train's speed at the derailment point was 80 km/h (50 mph), which means it was travelling at twice the normal 40 km/h speed for this curve.
Defective wheels or the possible collapse of a tunnel wall were also being considered as possible causes. Both the Valencian government spokesman Vicente Rambla and Mayor Rita Barberá have called the accident a "chance" event. However, the trade union CC.OO.
Workers' Commissions
The Workers' Commissions since the 1970s has become the largest trade union in Spain. It has more than one million members and is the most successful union in labor elections, competing with the socialist Unión General de Trabajadores , with the syndicalist Confederación General del Trabajo ...
has accused the authorities of "rushing" to say anything but admit that Line 1 is in a state of "constant deterioration" with a "failure to carry out maintenance".
It has been reported that a part of the wall in the tunnel between Plaça d'Espanya and Jesús stations in the southwestern neighbourhood of Patraix may have collapsed, causing the derailment of one of the carriages, which in turn caused the carriage behind it to overturn.
The fire brigade, medics and local police went to the scene after a passenger in the crashed train called the emergency services at about 1:03 p.m. (1103 UTC).
The incident came days before Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
was due to visit Valencia for the World Meeting of the Families, attended by one million pilgrims. It also coincided with the end to one of the pre-America's Cup 2007 match racings. Both events led to an increase in tourists in the area. The Pope offered his condolences and prayed at Jesús station, the scene of the accident.
News media
- Train crash kills 35 in Valencia at BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
- Spain subway crash toll rises at CNN.com Al menos 30 muertos por el descarrilamiento de un vagón del metro en Valencia at 20 minutos20 minutos20 minutos is a free Spanish newspaper, with local editions in several Spanish cities, published by "Multiprensa & Mas S.L.", a company founded in Madrid in 1999....
Some images at El MundoEl Mundo (Spain)El Mundo is the second largest printed and the largest digital daily newspaper in Spain and one of the newspapers of record in that country, with a daily circulation topping 300,000 readers for the printed edition and 24 million unique web visitors per month for the...
A video at El MundoEl Mundo (Spain)El Mundo is the second largest printed and the largest digital daily newspaper in Spain and one of the newspapers of record in that country, with a daily circulation topping 300,000 readers for the printed edition and 24 million unique web visitors per month for the... - In Pictures: Valencia train crash at BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
Maps
- View of Jesús Station and surrounding area at Google MapsGoogle MapsGoogle Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
- Map of Valencia Metro