The Association of Victims of the Adamuz Derailment has registered, through its lawyer, Antonio Benítez Ostos, a formal petition in which it claims an "urgent modification" of the current model for setting compensation, understanding that in practice it is "insufficient to adequately recognize many of the damages suffered by the victims".
As the association has explained in a statement, the objective is to update the compensation scale provided for in Royal Decree 627/2014, which in turn derives from Royal Decree 1575/1989, of December 22, which approved the Regulation of Compulsory Passenger Insurance, the norm that determines the aid and economic compensation to which those affected by railway accidents and their relatives can access.
The request, prepared with the legal support of Administrativando Abogados, has been sent to the Presidency of the Government, the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business.
According to the entity, the experience accumulated after the railway accident that occurred on January 18, 2026, has shown that the current scheme "is manifestly insufficient to adequately recognize many of the damages suffered by the victims".
The regulation focuses mainly on the most serious physical injuries, but "leaves without adequate protection" multiple sequelae that intensely condition daily life, including psychological disorders, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, sleep disturbances, or persistent fear of using the train again as a means of transport.
The association maintains that these types of consequences are "as real" as visible bodily harm and that they "must be fairly valued and compensated when they are accredited by medical and psychological professionals".
Therefore, the document urges the Executive to introduce new compensation categories that allow for "express recognition of psychological and emotional damages derived from railway accidents", as well as "functional and work limitations that victims may suffer even if their injuries are not formally considered serious".
Among the proposals put forward is also the setting of indicative minimum amounts and the automatic recognition, for compensation purposes, of any person traveling on a train involved in an accident, in order to avoid restrictive interpretations that could exclude certain affected individuals.
The Association's initiative is accompanied by a technical report titled 'Review of Scientific Evidence for Neuropsychological and Psychopathological Assessment Criteria in Victims of Collective Catastrophe, Acute Trauma, and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress', written by a general health psychologist specializing in complex trauma and clinical neuropsychology.
This document carries out "a review of the scientific and clinical evidence" available on the neuropsychological, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral sequelae suffered by people affected by catastrophic railway accidents, and concludes that the psychological damage derived from extreme traumatic experiences constitutes objectively verifiable and expert-assessable injuries.
The report examines, among other aspects, memory alterations and intrusive phenomena characteristic of post-traumatic stress disorder, avoidance behaviors, cognitive rigidity, persistent mood changes, and hyperarousal states, all of which are widely described and accepted by international scientific literature.