Castelldefels train accident
Encyclopedia
The Castelldefels train accident occurred on 23 June 2010 when a passenger train struck a group of people who were crossing the railway on the level at Platja de Castelldefels station near Barcelona
, in Catalonia
in northern Spain
. Twelve people were killed, and fourteen injured: the majority of the victims were of Latin America
n origin, particularly from Ecuador
.
The accident occurred on St. John's Eve
, a major celebration in Catalonia as in other parts of Spain and in several other European countries. The victims were apparently trying to get to the beach less than 200 metres from the station, where a concert by Ecuadorian singer Rubén de Rey had been organized. It was the worst railway accident in Spain since a collision between a passenger train and a freight train at Chinchilla de Monte-Aragón
in June 2003 killed 19 and injured 38 people.
, (21:23 UTC
), an express train
ran into a large group of people that was crossing the line at Platja de Castelldefels station, killing 12 of them and injuring 14. Three of the injured were said to be in critical condition. The people crossing the line had just alighted from a full commuter train at the station and were crossing the line to get to the beach. The train involved in the accident was a RENFE
Alaris
ETR 490 electric multiple unit
, and was travelling at about 135 km/h (85 mph), below the speed limit of 150 km/h (94 mph) for that section of track.
Emergency services sent 24 ambulances and 15 fire service vehicles to the scene. The injured were taken to one of three hospitals in Barcelona: L'Hospitalet de Llobregat
, Sant Joan Despí
, and Viladecans
. The force of the impact was such that rescue workers faced difficulties in reassembling the body parts. The line was closed following the accident, but reopened at 12:30 CEST (10:30 UTC) the following day.
over the line was available for use. This was denied by official sources including Adif
, the company which operates the station, and the mayor of Castelldefels
, Joan Sau. The Catalan Minister for Public Works, Joaquim Nadal, said that the footbridge had been chained off, although he suggested that climbing over the chain had "the same grade of physical difficulty" as crossing the tracks. The Spanish Ministry of Transport estimated that there were up to 800 passengers at the station at the time of the accident. Catalan President
José Montilla
said that "we shall have to see if the underpass was overcrowded or not", while local newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya
speculated that many of the people crossing the track might not have realised that, at the other end of the platform, there was an underpass which had only been open since November 2009. A member of the Ecuador
ean consulate in Barcelona, who had managed to cross the tracks with his family just before the accident, said that the signposting of the exits from the platform was "inadequate".
, and his deputy Víctor Morlán, announced a commission of inquiry which will report to the Spanish and Catalan governments, while RENFE
, who operated the train involved in the accident, and Adif
, the state company in charge of railway infrastructure (including the Platja de Castelldefels station), announced internal inquiries. A judicial inquiry into the deaths and injuries has also been opened by the duty judge in the nearby town of Gavà
, whose judicial district covers Castelldefels
.
The identification of the victims, under the authority of the Gavà judge, proved unusually onerous, and there was initially some confusion as to the exact number of dead. Nearly 24 hours after the accident, the Catalan government reported that there were thirteen immediate fatalities in the accident and not twelve as originally thought: The number of fatalities was later reduced to 12 after further investigation. Catalan Justice Minister Montserrat Tura graphically explained the difficulties facing the 19 pathologists and 21 other forensic scientists assigned to the case: "We don't have twelve bodies, but rather twenty sacks of remains." The Spanish authorities had to request the assistance of Interpol
to formally identify the body of a 30-year old Romanian woman who had no immediate family in Spain.
José Montilla
declared 24 June 2010 a day of official mourning in Catalonia
after visiting the scene of the accident and praising the response of the emergency services. King Juan Carlos
cancelled the reception he traditionally hosts on 24 June for St. John's Day
, his saint's day
.
A memorial gathering with a minute's silence was organized on 26 June at the Arc de Triomf
in Barcelona
by associations of Ecuador
ian and Colombia
n immigrants. The mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, and the Ecuadorian ambassador to Spain, Galo Chiriboga
, attended the memorial.
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
in northern Spain
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...
. Twelve people were killed, and fourteen injured: the majority of the victims were of Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n origin, particularly from Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
.
The accident occurred on St. John's Eve
St. John's Eve
The evening of June 23, St John's Eve, is the eve of celebration before the Feast Day of St John the Baptist. The Gospel of Luke states that John was born about six months before Jesus, therefore the feast of John the Baptist was fixed on June 21~24, six months before Christmas...
, a major celebration in Catalonia as in other parts of Spain and in several other European countries. The victims were apparently trying to get to the beach less than 200 metres from the station, where a concert by Ecuadorian singer Rubén de Rey had been organized. It was the worst railway accident in Spain since a collision between a passenger train and a freight train at Chinchilla de Monte-Aragón
Chinchilla de Monte-Aragón
Chinchilla de Monte-Aragón, more commonly just Chinchilla, is a municipality in the province of Albacete in Castile-La Mancha, in the region of La Mancha Montearagón.-Description:This town is located 15 km from the capital of the province...
in June 2003 killed 19 and injured 38 people.
Accident
At 23:23 local timeUTC+2
UTC+02 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as . This time is used in:-Central Africa Time:*Botswana*Burundi*Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, (21:23 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
), an express train
Express train
Express trains are a form of rail service. Express trains make only a small number of stops, instead of stopping at every single station...
ran into a large group of people that was crossing the line at Platja de Castelldefels station, killing 12 of them and injuring 14. Three of the injured were said to be in critical condition. The people crossing the line had just alighted from a full commuter train at the station and were crossing the line to get to the beach. The train involved in the accident was a RENFE
RENFE
Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...
Alaris
Alaris
Alaris is the brand name of the regional rail network run by the Spanish national rail company RENFE that connects the major cities of Madrid and Valencia, and Barcelona and the main cities of the Valencian community...
ETR 490 electric multiple unit
Electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages...
, and was travelling at about 135 km/h (85 mph), below the speed limit of 150 km/h (94 mph) for that section of track.
Emergency services sent 24 ambulances and 15 fire service vehicles to the scene. The injured were taken to one of three hospitals in Barcelona: L'Hospitalet de Llobregat
L'Hospitalet de Llobregat
L'Hospitalet de Llobregat or briefly L'Hospitalet is a city to the immediate southwest of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain, and the second largest in Catalonia by population...
, Sant Joan Despí
Sant Joan Despí
Sant Joan Despí is a city and municipality located in the Baix Llobregat area . It is situated on the left bank of the Llobregat river...
, and Viladecans
Viladecans
Viladecans is a large town very close to Barcelona, Spain. It is located between Sant Boi de Llobregat, Sant Climent de Llobregat, and bordering the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between El Prat de Llobregat and Gavà....
. The force of the impact was such that rescue workers faced difficulties in reassembling the body parts. The line was closed following the accident, but reopened at 12:30 CEST (10:30 UTC) the following day.
Initial reports
Initial reports said that a pedestrian underpass under the line was closed, although a footbridgeFootbridge
A footbridge or pedestrian bridge is a bridge designed for pedestrians and in some cases cyclists, animal traffic and horse riders, rather than vehicular traffic. Footbridges complement the landscape and can be used decoratively to visually link two distinct areas or to signal a transaction...
over the line was available for use. This was denied by official sources including Adif
Adif
Adif, an acronym of Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias, is a Spanish state-owned company under the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, charged with the management of most of Spain's railway infrastructure, that is the track, signalling and stations...
, the company which operates the station, and the mayor of Castelldefels
Castelldefels
Castelldefels is a town in the Baix Llobregat comarca, in the province of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain and part of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Its population is 63.151 .-Geography and location:...
, Joan Sau. The Catalan Minister for Public Works, Joaquim Nadal, said that the footbridge had been chained off, although he suggested that climbing over the chain had "the same grade of physical difficulty" as crossing the tracks. The Spanish Ministry of Transport estimated that there were up to 800 passengers at the station at the time of the accident. Catalan President
President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
The President of the Generalitat of Catalonia is the head of government of Catalonia. The president leads the executive branch of the regional government....
José Montilla
José Montilla
José Montilla Aguilera was the 128th President of Generalitat de Catalunya. He became the First Secretary of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia on 18 June 2000, and a member of the Federal Executive Committee and the Federal Committee of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party on 23 July 2000...
said that "we shall have to see if the underpass was overcrowded or not", while local newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya
El Periódico de Catalunya
El Periódico de Catalunya is a morning daily newspaper based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and owned by Grupo Zeta. El Periódico is actually two newspapers, publishing separate editions in Spanish and in Catalan...
speculated that many of the people crossing the track might not have realised that, at the other end of the platform, there was an underpass which had only been open since November 2009. A member of the Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
ean consulate in Barcelona, who had managed to cross the tracks with his family just before the accident, said that the signposting of the exits from the platform was "inadequate".
Investigations
At least four separate investigations were announced in the hours following the accident. The Spanish Minister for Transport, José BlancoJosé Blanco López
José Blanco López , also known as Pepe Blanco, is a Spanish socialist politician. He is currently the deputy general of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and Minister of Public Works and Transport. He began his political career in 1986 when he was elected to the Spanish Senate...
, and his deputy Víctor Morlán, announced a commission of inquiry which will report to the Spanish and Catalan governments, while RENFE
RENFE
Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...
, who operated the train involved in the accident, and Adif
Adif
Adif, an acronym of Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias, is a Spanish state-owned company under the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, charged with the management of most of Spain's railway infrastructure, that is the track, signalling and stations...
, the state company in charge of railway infrastructure (including the Platja de Castelldefels station), announced internal inquiries. A judicial inquiry into the deaths and injuries has also been opened by the duty judge in the nearby town of Gavà
Gavà
Gavà is a municipality in Barcelona Province , bordering the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between Viladecans and Castelldefels; not to get confused with the village of Gava in the Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary.Gavà has a beach and two...
, whose judicial district covers Castelldefels
Castelldefels
Castelldefels is a town in the Baix Llobregat comarca, in the province of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain and part of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Its population is 63.151 .-Geography and location:...
.
| Nationality | Fatalities |
|---|---|
| 7 | |
| 2 | |
| 2 | |
| 1 | |
| Total | 12 |
The identification of the victims, under the authority of the Gavà judge, proved unusually onerous, and there was initially some confusion as to the exact number of dead. Nearly 24 hours after the accident, the Catalan government reported that there were thirteen immediate fatalities in the accident and not twelve as originally thought: The number of fatalities was later reduced to 12 after further investigation. Catalan Justice Minister Montserrat Tura graphically explained the difficulties facing the 19 pathologists and 21 other forensic scientists assigned to the case: "We don't have twelve bodies, but rather twenty sacks of remains." The Spanish authorities had to request the assistance of Interpol
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
to formally identify the body of a 30-year old Romanian woman who had no immediate family in Spain.
Reactions
Catalan PresidentPresident of the Generalitat de Catalunya
The President of the Generalitat of Catalonia is the head of government of Catalonia. The president leads the executive branch of the regional government....
José Montilla
José Montilla
José Montilla Aguilera was the 128th President of Generalitat de Catalunya. He became the First Secretary of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia on 18 June 2000, and a member of the Federal Executive Committee and the Federal Committee of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party on 23 July 2000...
declared 24 June 2010 a day of official mourning in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
after visiting the scene of the accident and praising the response of the emergency services. King Juan Carlos
Juan Carlos I of Spain
Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
cancelled the reception he traditionally hosts on 24 June for St. John's Day
Midsummer
Midsummer may simply refer to the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, but more often refers to specific European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice, or that take place on a day between June 21 and June 24, and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between different...
, his saint's day
Name day
A name day is a tradition in many countries in Europe and Latin America that consists of celebrating the day of the year associated with one's given name....
.
A memorial gathering with a minute's silence was organized on 26 June at the Arc de Triomf
Arc de Triomf
The Arc de Triomf is an archway structure in Barcelona, Spain. It was built for the Exposición Universal de Barcelona , as its main access gate by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas.The arch is built in reddish brickwork in the Neo-Mudéjar style...
in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
by associations of Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
ian and Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
n immigrants. The mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, and the Ecuadorian ambassador to Spain, Galo Chiriboga
Galo Chiriboga
Galo Chiriboga is an Ecuadorian lawyer, politician, administrator and the president of "La Asociación Interamericana de Juristas". He is best known as the "Oil Minister for Ecuador"....
, attended the memorial.
See also
- List of rail accidents (2010–2019)
- Transport in CastelldefelsTransport in CastelldefelsPublic transport in Castelldefels belongs to the broader Metropolitan Area of Barcelona transportation network, organised around the entity Autoritat del Transport Metropolità...