Spanish National Railways (Renfe) said the accident occurred at 7:50 local time this morning when two trains traveling in the same direction entered Moncada I, about 12 kilometers (7 miles) from the city center on the outskirts of Barcelona. A collision occurred at the Montcada I Reixac-Manresa (Montcada I Reixac-Manresa) station, causing train traffic on multiple routes to be interrupted, and many people were injured to varying degrees, 14 of whom were sent to the hospital.
According to local media reports, when the accident happened, one of the trains had already stopped at the station, and another train collided with it. A spokesman for the Regional Fire Service confirmed the moving train had collided with the “rear” of a stationary train at the station.
Joan Carles Gomez, an official in charge of emergency services, told reporters at the scene that 155 people were injured in the crash, with 14 passengers being transferred to a local medical center for further treatment.
“We’re talking a lot of bruises and some head injuries, but nothing serious,” he said, adding that passengers were being checked “to rule out any fractures.”
“When the train collided, the carriages were fully loaded, and there was a huge shock at the moment of the collision. Everyone was screaming,” a passenger told reporters. “Someone was injured and bleeding from the collision.”
The affected train has been evacuated, with no passengers trapped inside, and Catalan police are investigating the cause of the accident, the report said.
The head of the Catalan government, Pere Aragonès i Garcia, urged RENFE and the Spanish government to explain the cause of the accident.
Spain’s Transport Minister Raquel Sánchez said she was monitoring the situation closely and wished the injured “a speedy recovery”.
According to reports, this is the third train collision in the Barcelona region of Spain this year. Regional officials blamed the accident on a lack of railway funding from the central government.
At around 18:00 local time on May 16, at the Sant Boi (Sant Boi) station about 15 kilometers away from Barcelona in the Catalonia region of Spain, the third carriage of a freight train carrying potassium derailed as it entered the station , rolled over and collided with the front of a suburban commuter passenger train that was leaving the station. The driver of the passenger train was killed due to the impact. The accident also injured 85 people, of whom 8 were sent to the hospital and 2 were seriously injured.
After the incident, relevant personnel launched rescue efforts at the scene, and 14 ambulances and 2 helicopters quickly arrived at the scene of the accident to help evacuate more than 100 passengers on the passenger train. Some lines of the Barcelona suburban railway and the C32 highway were temporarily blocked.
The accident was also the first fatal railway accident in the history of Catalan Railways in Spain.
A month later, on the evening of June 12, a passenger train collided head-on with a freight locomotive near a town south of Barcelona in the Catalan province of Tarragona, killing about 30 people Injured, five of them seriously. The passenger train was carrying 75 people at the time of the accident. A Spanish train infrastructure company was quoted as saying that there was a problem with the brakes of the freight locomotive involved.
Laura Borràs, the speaker of the regional parliament, said the “immediate priority” was not to repeat the incident. “Catalans deserve safe” rail transport, she tweeted.