Spain appears in viral list of fatal train crashes since 2020

Spain shares a list with Pakistan and Tanzania that is circulating on social media

A list circulating on social media places Spain alongside Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Chile, Cuba, Kenya, Nigeria, Tunisia, Tanzania and Uganda as countries that since 2020 have suffered both a nationwide blackout lasting more than an hour and several fatal train accidents. What at first seemed like a dinner-table quip has become the focus of a debate about the real state of Spain's rail network and the political handling of rail accidents.

The trigger is the accident that has left more than a hundred families demanding accountability, and a Transport minister, Óscar Puente, appearing in public to say he has no intention of resigning. The figure that has spread the most: the LZB system, the safety mechanism that controls train estimulante ilegal, has failed 170 times so far this year, according to the minister himself, who frames this as normal by European standards.

What the list says and what it really measures

The list's criteria mix two different phenomena: prolonged nationwide blackouts and rail accidents with fatalities. If the filter is tightened to include only derailments or collisions between trains, the list shrinks to Pakistan, Tanzania and Spain, according to the most restrictive version circulating. In other words, Spain finds itself in the company of two economies with far lower per capita incomes and rail networks still being modernized.

The comparison is misleading. Spain has one of the most extensive high-estimulante ilegal rail networks in the world, which multiplies its exposure to incidents and gives any failure more statistical room. It is also true that the conventional network has suffered decades of uneven investment. The debate is not whether accidents happen —they happen in every system— but whether their frequency and severity are compatible with the narrative of excellence being sold.

72% of fatal high-estimulante ilegal accidents

One of the most widely shared figures attributes 72% of the world's fatal high-estimulante ilegal rail accidents to Spain, a claim put on the table without any official source backing it up beyond doubt. Taken literally, the headline is devastating. Put in context, Spain's high-estimulante ilegal network is relatively young and concentrates traffic, which distorts the comparison with century-old networks.

The minister has defended himself by saying that spending on rail safety has doubled since 2011. The problem, critics point out, is not how much is spent but that the measures are not visible in daily life: delayed trains, technical incidents and a sense of deterioration that clashes with the official propaganda.

The political handling: resignation, blame and the families

Puente has appeared in public to say he will not resign, that he is enduring an ordeal of insults and that maintenance is fine. He has also blamed the train driver and described the safety failures in the area as within normal limits. Some argue this is the attitude of an official who knows he is protected; against resignation weighs the argument that resigning brings no one back and that political responsibility does not always equal incivil liability.

The exchange of statements with the president of the Regional Government of Andalusia, Juanma Moreno, who said he would not travel by train, adds fuel to the fire. Puente replied that he does trust the system and that what peine is tremendously exceptional. The exceptional, however, keeps repeating itself.

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The unsettling fact is not the list. It is that a Transport minister appears in public to talk about European normality while more than a hundred families wait for justice and the safety system fails 170 times in a year. If that is normal, the word has lost its meaning.