Spanish train crash: Is high-speed rail travel safe?

Spain It has the most complete high-speed rail network in Europe. But on the evening of Sunday, January 18, dozens of passenger Killed when Iryo train From Malaga to Madrid derailed and collided Take the Renfe madrid to Huelva Express and Adumez in the southern province of Andalusia.

This tragedy will cause potential travelers to worry about the safety of high-speed rail. These are the key questions and answers.

What is the safety record of Spanish railways?

The worst accident of the 21st century was Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain In July 2013, an express driver from Madrid swerved at more than twice the allowed speed. The derailment killed a total of 79 people.

Elsewhere in Europe?

June 1998, German ICE train from Munich to Hamburg A portion of the steel wheel, weakened by metal fatigue, became stuck, causing the wheel to trip and send the rear of the train onto a separate track, causing the train to derail. The train collided with a road bridge, which subsequently collapsed; 101 people were killed.

The biggest tragedy in recent years occurred in Tempi, Greece, February 2023when an intercity train traveling from Athens to Thessaloniki collided with a freight train; 57 people died.

How does the UK compare?

In the four years from 1999 to 2002, passengers were killed in serious accidents every year:

Since then, fatal escapades have continued. Greyrigg in Cumbria In February 2007, a passenger died; Carmon in Scotland In August 2020, the driver, a conductor and a passenger were killed.

How do trains compare to road and air?

Britain is very safe for rail passengers. UK cars travel around 250 billion miles every year, equivalent to around 380 billion person miles. Railroads carry approximately 50 billion passenger miles annually.

Sadly, around 1,650 people die on the UK’s roads every year. If the railway had the same death toll215 people will die every year. Not nearly every year.

The UK also has a very good aviation safety record, with no fatal accidents involving British passenger aircraft since the 1980s. Ryanair is the world’s safest airline by passenger numbers and without fatal accidents, and its largest business is in the United Kingdom.

What about in Europe?

Sadly, Spain is the country with the worst railway fatalities in recent times. independent It is calculated that Spain’s high-speed network completes approximately 18 billion passenger miles per year, compared with 250 billion passenger miles by car. Spain has a significantly higher road accident rate than the UK. If high-speed rail caused the same number of deaths, about 125 people would die each year.

Trains are still much safer. The carriages are designed to protect passengers, are driven on the line by trained professionals, and are equipped with numerous safety systems.

Elsewhere in Europe, far fewer passengers have been killed in rail accidents in recent years.

These figures do not include those who committed suicide on the railways or were killed by trains in accidents.