A Rodalies commuter train derailed near Barcelona on Tuesday night after it ploughed into the rubble of a retaining wall that had collapsed onto the tracks, leaving one person dead and 37 others injured, five seriously, regional authorities said.
The incident in Catalonia occurred just two days after a separate train collision in Andalusia that has now claimed at least 42 lives and wounded dozens more. ALSO READ: Death toll rises to 42 as royals visit train crash site and Spain starts three days of mourning.
The crash on Tuesday night happened between the Catalan towns of Gelida and Sant Sadurní, roughly 35 minutes from Barcelona.
On Tuesday, ‘a retaining wall collapsed onto the tracks, causing an accident involving a passenger train’ in the municipality of Gelida, around 40 kilometres west of Barcelona, the Catalonia region’s civil protection agency posted on social media.
The northeastern region’s Interior Minister, Nuria Parlón, told local media the crash killed one person and injured 37 — several seriously.
‘We regret to announce the death of one of the passengers on the train,’ said Parlón, adding authorities had not yet completed the identification process of the deceased.
RENFE – Spain’s national rail operator – had initially reported that the deceased was the train driver.
Spanish media later reported that the deceased was a student train driver who was travelling in the driver’s cabin. He was a man born in 1998, and with family living in Seville. According to reports, three trainees had been with the driver when the accident happened.
Catalonia’s emergency services said that of the 37 people affected in Tuesday’s crash, five suffered serious injuries, while six were listed as less serious.
They added that 20 ambulances were dispatched to the scene and that the injured were taken to Moisès Broggi, Bellvitge and Vilafranca hospitals. Regional firefighters said most of those hurt had been travelling in the first carriage of the train.
ADIF – Spain’s railway infrastructure operator – said the retaining wall was likely brought down by heavy rainfall that has affected northeastern Spain in recent days.
The entire Rodalies de Catalunya rail service was suspended overnight, with no trains running. It remained suspended on Wednesday morning until ADIF verifies the ‘safety’ of the entire network after recent torrential rain and storms across Catalonia.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez referred to the Barcelona-area crash in a message on X, writing: ‘All my affection and solidarity with the victims and their families.’
Although Spain’s high-speed rail network is generally considered reliable and, until Sunday, had been a source of public confidence, the commuter rail system has long struggled with service disruptions. Even so, serious accidents resulting in injuries or deaths are rare across both networks.
Meanwhile, another train on the Barcelona commuter network had also derailed on Tuesday.
‘The axle was struck by a rock dislodged by the storm,’ Spain’s rail network operator ADIF said in a statement.
The train was running between Blanes and Maçanet-Massanes, north-east of Barcelona and reportedly carrying about 10 passengers.
The train drivers’ union Semaf said on Wednesday that it will call a ‘general strike across the sector’ until the safety of train drivers is guaranteed.
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.
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🔴La consellera de @interiorcat, Núria Parlon, actualiza los datos del accidente de Gelida
🔸1 persona fallecida
🔸5 heridos graves
🔸6 en estado menos grave
🔸26 en estado leve▪️El servicio de Rodalies no se retomará hasta que Renfe y Adif determinen la seguridad de la red pic.twitter.com/i1nAzF1c5r
— Radio 5 (@radio5_rne) January 21, 2026
A Gelida, després de fer una revisió de tot el comboi, hem confirmat que no quedava ningú a l’interior. Estem revisant revisar la part de sota del tren i fem una batuda per la zona per descartar més víctimes.
Continuem assegurant la zona per treballar amb seguretat.#bomberscat pic.twitter.com/KnAiibJGQw— Bombers (@bomberscat) January 20, 2026
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