The Alfarelos train crash occurred on 21 January 2013 at the Alfarelos station, in the Portuguese Northern Line. Two trains crashed, after both passed signals at danger, wounding 25 people and halting the Northern Line for three days. Context On the day of the accident, services were operating as usual in the Northern Line. At 19:30, an InterCity train left Lisbon Santa Apolónia towards Porto Campanhã. About half an hour later, at 19:55, a train left Entroncamento, away from Santa Apolónia, making the regional service towards Coimbra, where it was scheduled to arrive at 21:51. Both trains were expected to meet at around 21:17 in Alfarelos, where the InterCity would overtake the regional. Crash The inquiry commission led by CP and REFER collected information about the events that led to the collision. According to their report, shortly before arriving at Alfarelos, the regional train encountered a caution signal (solid yellow), meaning that it would find a red signal at Alfarelos. As the driver slowed down the train, so that it would stop before the red signal, it started slipping on the rails. The driver was not able to stop the train on time. before the signal, with the train travelling at , CONVEL triggered the emergency brakes. This was not enough to stop the train which passed the signal at danger at a speed of and stopped after the signal. Following the rules for this type of incident, the driver contacted the REFER Lisbon Operational Command Center (CCO Lisboa), awaiting instructions on how to proceed. The train could either be told to go back to the signal, or to continue ahead. At the same time, the InterCity train passed through the same caution signal at , and faced similar problems. After braking for , the train speed was still , which prompted the driver to use the sander. This train was also unable to stop on time, and passed the signal at danger with a speed of , moment at which CONVEL triggered the emergency brakes. Shortly after, at 21:15, this train collided with the regional train, at , destroying the last car and damaging other two. Aftermath Despite the collision and the destruction, which included graphic photos of a rail car torn apart, with the InterCity going through it "like it were a tunnel", there were no fatalities: the three last cars, which suffered most of the damage, had