The Gelida incident, caused by a collision with a retaining wall that fell onto the track, recalls the Vacarisses derailment in November 2018, where a passenger died. Both accidents occurred on the R4 line due to landslides caused by heavy rains.
A key difference is that in Vacarisses the train collided with the landslide already on the track, whereas in Gelida, according to initial investigations, the wall fell onto the engine just as it was passing. This explains why the fatality was the trainee driver who was in the cabin.
Of the five train drivers killed in accidents across Spain in the last seven years, two have lost their lives in incidents occurring on the Rodalies Catalunya R4 line.
This tragic count includes the young trainee driver who died in the frontal train collision in Castellgalí on February 8, 2019, and the young man from Seville who recently lost his life in Gelida.
Outside of Rodalies RENFE, the accident on May 16, 2022, in Sant Boi de Llobregat is also recalled, where the driver of an FGC train died after colliding with a freight train.
