Who is Liable for Negligent Homicide in Train Accidents?

The recent railway accident that occurred in the Adamuz area has once again brought to the forefront a question that always arises when a technical incident ends up in criminal court: who is liable when a complex system fails and there are deaths or injuries.

This same issue marked for more than a decade the proceedings following the Angrois accident, in Santiago de Compostela, where an Alvia train derailed on the A Grandeira curve and caused 80 deaths and more than 140 injuries. The judgment rendered in July 2024 not only identified individual conduct. It also analyzed technical and organizational decisions made long before the day of the incident.

What is involuntary manslaughter and where is it regulated

Involuntary manslaughter is covered in article 142 of the Criminal Code. It does not require intent to kill. It requires something different: that a person breach an objective duty of care and that such breach has a direct relationship with the death caused.

In the technical or professional sphere, the court usually analyzes three key questions:

• What rule, protocol or standard should have been complied with.
• Who had the duty to apply or guarantee it.
• Whether its breach created a relevant risk that resulted in the outcome.

The

The liability of ADIF executives in railway accidents that result in involuntary manslaughter

The second level of analysis is less visible, but is usually the most complex from a legal standpoint.

This is where technical managers and executives of the entity that manages the infrastructure and system safety, such as ADIF, come in.

These professionals are not in the cabin. They do not drive the train.
But they make decisions that determine something key: what barriers exist before human error can become a tragedy.

The position of guarantor

From a criminal law perspective, whoever holds a decision-making position in a dangerous system assumes a special duty.

They must not only fulfill their function.
They must act to prevent the system itself from allowing foreseeable errors with catastrophic consequences.

This is what is known as a position of guarantor. A role that makes safety a legal obligation, not just a technical one.

Risk assessment and actual scope

Courts examine how the risks of the line were assessed.

They analyze whether the study was comprehensive or whether it was limited to specific parts of the system, leaving out critical points of the route.

If a particularly dangerous area could be identified and no additional measures were adopted, that failure to act may acquire criminal relevance.

Omission as a form of liability

Here appears the concept of liability by omission.

The executive is not charged for having directly caused the accident, but for having allowed the system to operate with a level of risk that made a fatal outcome possible.

If they had the capacity and duty to intervene, and did not do so, that inaction can become one of the pillars of the

What are the penalties for involuntary manslaughter?

Involuntary manslaughter is regulated in article 142 of the Criminal Code.

The base penalty is:

• Imprisonment of one to four years, when the negligence is considered serious.

To this is almost always added a consequence that, in professional environments, is usually the most relevant:

• Special disqualification from profession or occupation for three to six years.

This means that a train operator, technician, engineer or executive can be legally prevented from practicing their activity during that period, even if the prison sentence is suspended or substituted.

In cases of less serious negligence, the criminal response may be a fine, but professional disqualification remains on the table if the outcome has been particularly serious.

What are the penalties for negligent injury?

Negligent injuries are regulated in article 152 of the Criminal Code.

Here the penalty depends on the type of injury and the degree of negligence.

In the most serious cases, when the injuries significantly affect the physical or psychological integrity of the victim, the consequences may be:

• Imprisonment of three months to three years, or
• Fine, according to the judicial assessment of the case.

And, again, a key element appears:

• Special disqualification from profession or occupation for one to four years, when the injuries occur in the exercise of a professional activity.

What is the compensation for families and those affected in railway accidents?

In railway accidents with victims, compensation is not a fixed or automatic amount. It is calculated case by