Rail service suspended across Catalonia pending inspections after fatal crash near Barcelona

One person has died and 37 have been left injured after a train collided with a retaining wall that fell on the track in Gelida, just outside Barcelona.

Of the injured, five are in a serious condition, six suffered less serious injuries, while 26 were only mildly injured.

The deceased was a student train driver who was travelling in the driver's cabin, police have confirmed. He was a man born in 1998, and with family living in Seville. 

Emergency response units have mobilised 37 ambulances, while the Fire Brigade have sent 38 teams with 70 personnel. The Mossos also sent around fifteen police teams.

The entire Rodalies de Catalunya rail service is suspended on Wednesday, with no trains running.

The network will be stopped until infrastructure operators Adif verify the "safety" of the entire infrastructure after storm Harry.

At 9.02pm on Tuesday evening, the emergency number 112 was called to report a collision. As a result of the head-on collision with the wall, the train would have derailed.

From the scene of the accident, Fire Department official Claudi Gallardo indicated that the wall had probably fallen due to a landslide, although this is not confirmed.

An investigating judge on duty in Vilafranca del Penedès has traveled to the scene of the accident to remove the body and obtain initial information about the events, now under judicial investigation.

The events come just days after the derailment of a high-speed train in Andalusia which left over 40 people dead. 

Spain's transport minister, Óscar Puente, said on Wednesday that the wall partially collapsed onto the train's cab. He predicted that train services would remain suspended for the day.

Asked whether the disruption could continue over the coming days, Puente told Spanish public broadcaster TVE: "In principle, throughout today with full certainty." He emphasized that the driver had no chance to prevent the accident and described it as a tragedy caused by the adverse weather conditions.

AP-7 motorway

Firefighters have warned of "possible instability" on the AP-7 motorway near the site of Tuesday's train accident.

Guillem Amorós, head of operations for the Bombers de la Generalitat, said the collapsed wall is currently resting on the derailed train and that engineers will need to evaluate how the embankment behaves once the railcar is removed.

For safety, the lane closest to the wall has been closed, but firefighters said the rest of the highway is considered safe for traffic. Authorities have requested a joint assessment of the situation from the trransport ministry and railway operator ADIF.

Train drivers strike

The train drivers' union Semaf announced on Wednesday that it will call a "general strike across the sector" after the various railway accidents in recent hours, which have caused the deaths of train drivers.

In a statement, Semaf warned that train traffic in Catalonia "will not be carried out without sufficient safety guarantees," and asked that the same track review procedure in operation in Catalonia be applied "to the entire network."

The union also says that they will demand "criminal liability for those responsible for ensuring the safety of the railway infrastructure" and demand that "the safety and reliability of the railway structure" be guaranteed.

Commuter confusion

Commuters in Barcelona's Sants station are experiencing confusion and bewilderment on Wednesday morning, with the entire rail network suspended.

Most people who arrived in the lobby early in the morning were unaware that the service was suspended throughout Catalonia.

"We are desperate, everyone works and needs transport," Carina complained, who had to travel to Hostalric.

"They told me that, most likely, there will be no trains all day and tomorrow," explained John, who was already at Sants before 7am.

The information panels in the station are black, showing there are no trains running.

Meanwhile, an association of train commuters has demanded an "urgent review" of the railway network after the fatal accident in Gelida.

"We are risking our lives, we knew that one day there would be an accident," the spokesperson for Dignity on the Roads, Anna Gómez, told the Catalan News Agency.

She has also shown support for the train drivers who have announced a strike. "It has reached a point where it cannot continue. They are fighting not to die while working, and we should fight not to die going to work," she said.

Junts demand ministers' appearances

Catalan pro-independence party Junts has demanded the "urgent" appearance of the Minister of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition, Sílvia Panque, in the Catalan parliament, as well as Spain's Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, in the Spanish Congress and Senate over the "mismanagement of the railway crisis."

The party wants the ministers to offer explanations of the crisis in the commuter trains and the collapse of infrastructure in Catalonia.

Catalonia's presidency minister, Albert Dalmau, has asked the public for "comprehension and collaboration." He said the "main priority is to review the entire infrastructure before resuming the service with full safety guarantees," in a message on social media.

Technicians have been reviewing the entire network since last night, and the hopes are to restore rail services "as soon as possible."