Train service restored between Malaga and Seville after track cleared following weekend crash that injured 13

Early this Wednesday morning (20 December), rail traffic was restored at El Chorro - Caminito del Rey railway station, which had been interrupted after the accident involving two trains on Saturday evening that left 13 passengers, three of them children, with minor injuries. From 6 o'clock this morning the 'Media Distancia' service between Seville and Malaga city started running again, train operator Renfe confirmed to SUR. At 11.45pm on Tuesday, Adif track infrastructure and Renfe engineers finally gave the green light allowing the track to reopen.

It was during the afternoon of Tuesday, almost 72 hours after the collision between two trains at El Chorro station, when engineers had managed to clear the damaged carriages from the track, but it remained closed because the infrastructure had to be checked and repaired. Specifically, Adif was working to repair the rails and sleepers damaged during the impact. The points system was also being checked.

Engineers also had to work on the catenary system, the overhead electric lines which supply power to trains, which had to be dismantled to allow the work of the crane train that since Monday had been moving and rerailing the damaged trains.

The accident on Saturday night involved a service coming from Malaga colliding with the tail end of another double train that was coming from Seville and was parked in the station.

The initial investigations carried out by Renfe and Adif pointed to a human error when the driver allegedly missed a warning signal similar to that of a red light, something that is still being clarified. However, the CGT railway workers' union accused Renfe of using a double-composition convoy (two train units operating as one) to save a driver on the service from Seville to Malaga and of parking a 149-metre train on a 100-metre platform (something that, sources say, is allowed by Adif).