High-speed train collision kills at least 68 in Spain

A high-speed train slammed into another that had stopped on the tracks in Spain overnight, killing at least 68 people and injuring dozens in the second deadly rail collision this year.

The regional government of Castilla La Mancha confirmed the death toll and said another 58 people were receiving medical treatment at hospitals. Rescue workers continue searching the wreckage for survivors and bodies.

The collision came just nine months after another deadly crash involving high-speed trains operated by the same two companies in southern Spain in January.

"Today all of Spain is grieving," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said from the crash site, where he announced that his government would declare three days of national mourning.

Sánchez called for increased safety measures to restore confidence in a high-speed rail system that was once a source of national pride.

"It is unacceptable for a country like Spain to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in the same year," said Sánchez, who faces a national election on November 29.

Spain's rail system operator ADIF said the crash occurred Wednesday morning in the central province of Toledo, involving two high-speed trains carrying hundreds of passengers and heading in the same direction from Madrid to Seville in southwestern Spain.

A train operated by the state-owned RENFE company struck the rear of another train operated by private company IRYO that had stopped. The collision derailed two cars in a rural area between two villages.

David Gómez, a construction worker, was working with his brother and another colleague nearby when they heard the crash and ran to help, he told the newspaper El País.

“People were trying to get out through the windows ... We cut through some fences to access the area and treated people with the first-aid kits we had brought,” until emergency services arrived, he said. “As I was trying to pull a young woman out, there was a piece of a leg.”

Rail service was suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia.

Before this year, there had been no fatal crash on Spain’s dedicated high-speed lines since the network opened in 1992.

Spain's Transport Minister Óscar Puente said that the crash was caused by what he called the "inexplicable" order from a central command centre for Spain’s trains after a security system had failed. He said the train engineers were not to blame.

Puente said that at 8.30am the security system on a stretch of 63km stopped working due to a computer malfunction, causing all trains on that stretch to stop. But the central command told the RENFE train to start running again without any speed restrictions, and it ended up colliding with the stopped IRYO train at 8.53am.

Puente said that the train should never have been told to start moving again since there was still a "stop signal" active on that line. And if it had, at least it should have been told to go at reduced speed.

Authorities were still studying information to see how fast the train was going, but it could have been at 200km/h for that stretch of the track, Puente said.

"I am not attributing responsibility to anyone, I am just stating the facts," Puente said.

The crash, which occurred in a flat stretch surrounded by olive fields in between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes, left carriages shredded into bits of metal and other material, scattering debris down a gravel slope.

Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said that emergency workers focused on rescuing survivors and bodies from the most damaged train cars.

“It was a high-speed impact, so we are expecting this to be a tragedy," García said.

Passenger Ignacio Relaño was traveling on the RENFE train. He told state broadcaster TVE that the train had stopped momentarily on the line before it started again and then crashed into the IRYO.

“We all felt the train abruptly slowing down and then the impact," he said. "The car leaned to one side like it was about to tip over. I hit my nose, everything went flying, luggage, cell phones. Everything shook."

Another passenger recounted to Cadena Ser radio how she felt the train slam on the brakes and was thrown forward in her seat, breaking the small table in front of her. She said she saw body parts and trapped people covered in blood.

Authorities said 397 passengers were in the RENFE train and 147 passengers in the IRYO train.

IRYO, an Italian-owned company, said in a statement that it has "activated its security protocols and is closely working with authorities".

The mayor of the nearby town of Urda, Manuel Galán, said civil protection authorities asked his officials to prepare a sports pavilion to receive injured passengers.

A military emergency brigade was deployed to help emergency services, firefighters and police. Ambulances and medical helicopters made trips to and from the site, while unscathed survivors were put on buses.

Spain’s King Felipe VI also visited the crash site. He and Queen Letizia said in a short statement on X that they were closely following the news.

“We share in the grief of the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives, and we send our heartfelt support to the injured and all those affected," the royals said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said "My heart goes out to the victims' families and loved ones. Today, Europe mourns with you."

Spain's soccer federation postponed all 24 Copa del Rey games scheduled on Wednesday.

The wreckage of Wednesday’s crash reminded many of the aftermath of another train collision in January, when 46 people died in southern Spain when an IRYO train jumped the track and hit an oncoming RENFE train. That sent the first two cars of the impacted train plummeting down a 4-metre slope.

That crash was the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash that killed 80 people.

The January incident had already shaken confidence in the country's extensive high-speed rail service. Rail officials responded by promising more maintenance and reducing the maximum speed of the high-speed trains.

Over recent decades, Spain has invested heavily in high-speed rail — which the country’s railway union defines as rails for trains going 250km/h and over — turning it into a world leader.

Spain has laid some 3900km of such tracks over more than three decades for its 49 million residents. Only China, with 45,000km for its 1.4 billion people, has more high-speed track, according to the International Union of Railways.

Only recently did Spain open its rail network to private companies to compete against RENFE. IRYO started operating in Spain in 2022.

A spokesperson for Spain’s train workers’ union, Joan Rodríguez, said increased traffic brought by privatization has put extra strain on rail infrastructure.

"We are not convinced that the liberalization of the high-speed passenger rail service was matched by the necessary upkeep of the lines," Rodríguez told TVE on Wednesday. "I am not saying it was a determining factor [in the crashes], but yes, the increase in use of the network is a factor to keep in mind."