Deadly wreck is the first blight on Spain's leading high-speed rail service

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The deadly train wreck in southern Spain has cast a pall over one of the nation’s symbols of success.

The collision Sunday killed at least 40 people and injured dozens more, according to officials as of Monday night.

Here's a look at the history of a rail network that became a crown jewel of contemporary Spain, by the numbers.

The number of years since Spain inaugurated its first high-speed AVE, which means “bird” in Spanish.

Both before and after that milestone, successive Spanish governments devoted tax revenues and European Union development aid to its high-speed rail network that quickly caught up and surpassed high-speed pioneers Japan and France.

The first high-speed train to speed across Spain preceded the opening of the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona by two months.

Both marked high points in Spain’s recent history after it emerged from the economic doldrums and cultural and political isolation of the 20th-century dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco.

How many kilometers, equal to 2,400 miles, of high-speed rail that Spain has laid over the last three-plus decades for its 49 million residents.

Only China — with 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles) for its 1.4 billion people — has more high-speed track, according to the International Union of Railways.

Spain's commitment to high-speed rail, which the railway union defines as rails for trains going 250 kph (155 mph), has helped Spain shed its reputation of often being behind the industrial curve compared to other leading economies.

Spain’s train builders have been able to capitalize on its domestic expansion. A Spanish consortium built Saudi Arabia’s high-speed line connecting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina that opened service in 2018.

The approximate number of hours a train trip took between Madrid and Barcelona before and after the 2008 adoption of high-speed rail.

On an old, slow train, the 600-kilometer (385-mile) journey between Spain’s biggest cities used to take around seven hours, meaning many business travelers opted to take a plane.

Now that trip can be done in 2.5 hours, and Spain announced plans in November to modernize the Madrid-Barcelona line to allow trains to reach 350 kph (218 mph), matching the fastest Chinese trains. That would bring the transit time down to less than 2 hours.

The AVE has helped unite a country whose main population centers other than Madrid are located on its coasts, separated by some of the most sparsely populated areas in Europe.

Every region and provincial capital has pushed hard for its own high-speed line. Some critics say the administrations may have spent too much on questionable lines to the detriment of investing in local commuter lines, which suffer many more delays than the high-speed rail does.

Missing out on an AVE line and stop has become synonymous with economic decline for a provincial city.

The move away from air travel to rail also remains a key plank of Spain’s green energy and electrification plan to fight climate change.

The number of deadly accidents involving a high-speed train in Spain’s history. One official described Sunday’s collision as transforming a train into a “mass of twisted metal.”

Spanish officials say they are still at a loss to understand what went wrong Sunday night when one high-speed train jumped the track and collided with another fast train going the other direction.

Álvaro Fernández, the president of public train company Renfe, told Spanish public radio station RNE that both trains were traveling well under the speed limit and “human error could be ruled out.”

One of the two trains was operated by Renfe and another by a private company.

Spain’s worst train accident this century occurred in 2013, when 80 people died after a train derailed in the country’s northwest. An investigation concluded the train was traveling 179 kph (111 mph) on a stretch with an 80 kph (50 mph) speed limit when it left the tracks. That stretch of track was not high speed.

The number of operators with high-speed trains in Spain.

Only in 2022 did Spain open its rail network to private companies to compete against Renfe.

The first company to get into the private high-speed market was Iryo, which is Italian-owned. It was followed by the French company Ouigo.

It was an Iryo train that first derailed on Sunday, knocking the Renfe train off its track. Iryo has said it is working with officials to determine the causes of the accident.

Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visit the site of a train collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (Joaquin Corchero/Europa Press via AP) **SPAIN OUT**

Guardia Civil officers collect evidence next to the wreckage of train cars involved in a collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

In this grab taken from video provided by Guardia Civil, rescue workers at the scene after a high speed train collision, near Adamuz, Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)

FILE - A worker cleans the windows of a high speed train at Atocha station in Madrid, March 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul White, File)

FILE - Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero speaks at Valencia train station, following the inaugural journey aboard a high-speed AVE train linking Madrid to Valencia, Spain, Dec. 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz, File)

Part of a wrecked train is photographed at the site of a train collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Part of a wrecked train is photographed at the site of a train collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Emergency crews work at the site of a train collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lindsey Halligan, who as a top Justice Department prosecutor pursued indictments against a pair of President Donald Trump's adversaries, is leaving her position as her months-long tenure has now concluded, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday night.

Halligan's departure from the role of interim United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia came as multiple judges were casting doubt on her ability to legally remain in the job following a court ruling two months ago that said her appointment was illegal. She was appointed in September to a 120-day stint, which concluded Tuesday.

“The circumstances that led to this outcome are deeply misguided,” Bondi said in a social media post on X announcing Halligan's departure. “We are living in a time when a democratically elected President's ability to staff key law enforcement positions faces serious obstacles.”

The announcement followed dual orders from separate judges that marked a dramatic new front in an ongoing clash between the Trump administration and the federal court over the legitimacy of Halligan’s appointment. A White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience, Halligan was picked for the role by President Donald Trump in September only to have a judge rule two months later that the appointment was illegal.

In one order, M. Hannah Lauck, the chief judge of the Eastern District of Virginia and a nominee of President Barack Obama, directed a clerk to publish a vacancy announcement on the court's website and with the news media and said she was “soliciting expressions of interest in serving in that position.” The judge noted that the temporary appointment given to Halligan, who has since been nominated by Trump but not confirmed by the Senate, expired Tuesday.

In a separate order, U.S. District Judge David Novak said he was striking the words “United States Attorney” from the signature block of an indictment in a case that was before him, and barred Halligan from continuing to present herself with that title. He said he would initiate disciplinary proceedings against Halligan if she violated his order and persisted in identifying herself in court filings as a U.S. attorney, and said other signatories could be subject to discipline as well.

“No matter all of her machinations, Ms. Halligan has no legal basis to represent to this Court that she holds the position. And any such representation going forward can only be described as a false statement made in direct defiance of valid court orders,” Novak wrote. “In short, this charade of Ms. Halligan masquerading as the United States Attorney for this District in direct defiance of binding court orders must come to an end.”

The order from Novak, who was appointed to the bench by Trump during the Republican president's first term in office, followed a defiant filing signed by Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in which they stood behind Halligan's authority and accused the judge of abusing his power by demanding that Halligan publicly explain why she continues to identify herself as a U.S. attorney.

“Ms. Halligan’s response, in which she was joined by both the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General, contains a level of vitriol more appropriate for a cable news talk show and falls far beneath the level of advocacy expected from litigants in this Court, particularly the Department of Justice,” Novak wrote.

“The Court will not engage in a similar tit-for-tat and will instead analyze the few points that Ms. Halligan offers to justify her continued identification of her position as United States Attorney before the Court,” he added.

Halligan was named to the job on an acting basis in September after the Trump administration effectively forced out veteran prosecutor Erik Siebert amid pressure to bring charges against two of Trump's political foes, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Halligan secured the indictments, but the win was short-lived. In November, U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that Halligan had been illegally appointed as an acting U.S. attorney and dismissed both cases. The Justice Department has appealed that ruling.

The U.S. attorneys who serve atop dozens of regional Justice Department offices across the country are typically appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Attorneys general are empowered to directly install interim U.S. attorneys who can serve for 120 days, after which federal judges in the district have the authority to appoint a prosecutor to serve until the vacancy is filled.

FILE - Lindsey Halligan, outside of the White House, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)