The investigation detects marks on the wheels of five carriages of the Iryo train involved in the Adamuz accident.

New developments have emerged in the investigation into Sunday night's fatal collision between two high-speed trains in Adamuz, Córdoba, which has now claimed at least 43 lives. The latest victim, according to EFE, was located on Wednesday. Yesterday, the investigation focused on the train tracks and the point of contact between the trains. bogis (wheels) and the track, and this Wednesday, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, stated in an interview on Telecinco that marks have been found on the structure beneath the train's body, made up of axles and wheels that fit onto the rail, of the first five cars of the Iryo train involved in the accident.

The minister also said that it is "possible" that the two or three trains that ran on the same track just before the Iryo also had "similar marks." This supports the theory that the track had some kind of defect that would have affected the wheels and worsened with the passage of the various trains. "The question is why these marks appeared, whether there was something wrong with the track or whether the track itself was beginning to break down. At this time, it is not possible to draw a conclusion," he said.

In contrast, trains that passed through the section of track where the derailment occurred more than an hour before the accident lack these markings, Puente explained in an interview on TVE. Therefore, if the theory that the train's wheels were damaged by a track defect is correct, this defect would have occurred at most one hour before the tragic accident.

The state of the tracks: under scrutiny since Monday night

The minister has described as "outrageous" the claim that works were contractedlow cost"(low cost) for infrastructure maintenance and added that it is "a renewed track that has undergone all reliability tests." This track in question was renewed last May, and between 2021 and 2025, 700 million euros were invested in the material.

In an interview on TVE on Monday night – 24 hours after the fatal accident – ​​Minister Puente admitted that there were indeed "pieces of broken rail in several places." "We have detected an initial break, but the crucial question is whether it is the cause or the consequence of the accident," the minister explained.

Since then, teams have been trying to determine whether the rail broke at some point and this caused the derailment, or whether, on the contrary, the derailment of the train and the subsequent collision – and the dragging of all the rolling stock – was what damaged the tracks. In fact, the Railway Accident Investigation Commission, the CIAFThe independent body continues to gather information. It has warned that pieces of track and rolling stock will have to be taken to metal laboratories to determine if there was any wear or breakage.

41 victims identified

Regarding the victims of this tragic event, which now number 43 after the discovery of a body this Wednesday morning, the Integrated Data Center (CID) has reported that the Civil Guard has already identified almost all of the victims of the train accident (41). The forensic teams are scheduled to perform the two remaining autopsies this afternoon. Of the total number of dead taken to the Institute of Legal Medicine in Córdoba, 28 were inside the Alvia train traveling between Madrid and Huelva, which was struck by the Iryo train, which derailed first, and another six were on the tracks of this train. Six more victims were found inside the Iryo train traveling from Málaga to Madrid. Three people were located between the two trains. Reports of missing family members or acquaintances filed with police in Madrid, Malaga, Cordoba, Seville, and Huelva have increased in the last 24 hours, rising from 43 to 45.