24.01.2026

Platform, not a crane

A number of our readers contacted us yesterday asking if we knew any details of an incident in Murcia, Spain, in which a “train crashed into a crane”.

We checked the news, and sure enough, the English language, and to be fair, some of the Spanish media, carried news of a train hitting a crane. Some even had photos of a crane alongside a crashed train. It was clear, though, that one was a recovery of a derailed crane, while another happened years ago. A case of 2+2=9.

We contacted a few of our Spanish readers/contacts and managed to clarify what actually happened.

On Thursday, around midday, A one carriage commuter train travelling between Cartagena and Los Nietos on Spain’s Mediterranean coast was just leaving or approaching the town of El Abrevadero on the east side of Cartagena when it glanced the protruding knuckle of a Socage 14A pick-up mounted platform owned and operated by electrical company Elecnor.
The ‘crash’ shattered one of the train's windows, and while no one was injured in the incident, paramedics treated six people for minor cuts or grazes caused, we assume, by flying glass. Traffic on the line was disrupted for around an hour. The platform lost a little paint but was otherwise undamaged.

The incident might not have attracted any national or international attention had it not come after three far more serious incidents earlier in the week.
The video below shows a few more details