Train drivers in Spain are due to begin a three-day nationwide strike on Monday in protest of what they say is a lack of safety guarantees on the country’s rail system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The action follows two fatal train crashes in January, one in Adamuz in the country’s southern region which killed 46 people, and the second just two days later near Barcelona where a train driver died and dozens were injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The accidents have caused severe disruption for travellers and cast doubt on Spain’s much-vaunted rail system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semaf, the train drivers’ union, are demanding the hiring of more staff and increased investment and maintenance in what it has described as “the constant deterioration of the rail network”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the two collisions, subsequent safety checks also revealed faults and maintenance issues on a number of routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez is due to be grilled in parliament later this week about the failures in the rail system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The accident in Adamuz on 18 January, where a high-speed train derailed and collided with another travelling in the opposite direction was the country’s worst rail disaster in more than a decade<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A preliminary report by rail accident investigation commission CIAF has found that grooves found on the wheels of the derailed train and three earlier trains suggests that a fracture in the track occurred before the train went over it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n