Emergency services attended to victims at the scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, on Wednesday.
Juanma Jiménez/Europa Press via AP
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Juanma Jiménez/Europa Press via AP
URDA, Spain — A Spanish high-speed train slammed into another that had stopped on the tracks Wednesday, killing at least 68 people and shredding carriages in the country’s second deadly train collision this year.
The regional government of Castilla La Mancha confirmed the death toll and said another 58 people needed medical treatment in hospital. Rescuers continue to search the rubble for survivors and bodies.
The accident comes with still fresh memories of another accident between high-speed trains in southern Spain in January, involving trains from the same two companies.
Spanish rail operator ADIF said the accident occurred Wednesday morning in Toledo province, involving two high-speed trains carrying hundreds of passengers and heading in the same direction from the capital Madrid to Seville, in southwest Spain.
A train, operated by the public company RENFE, crashed into the tail of another train belonging to the private company IRYO which had stopped, knocking two of its wagons off the track in a rural area between two villages.
This screenshot taken from video provided by Spain’s Guardia Civil shows an aerial view of train cars and first responders at the site of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, on Wednesday.
Guardia Civil via AP
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Guardia Civil via AP
David Gómez, a construction worker, was working with his brother and another colleague nearby when they heard the accident and ran to help, he told El País newspaper.
“People were trying to get out through the windows… We cut 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 her leg.”
Train service has been suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia.
Until this year, no fatal accidents had occurred on Spain’s dedicated high-speed lines since the network opened in 1992. It was a source of national pride.
Transport Minister says accident was due to ‘inexplicable’ decision
Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the accident was caused by what he called an “inexplicable” order from a central control center for Spanish trains after a safety system failed. He said the train’s engineers were not to blame.
Puente said that at 8:30 a.m., the safety system on a 63-kilometer (39-mile) stretch stopped working due to a computer malfunction, causing all trains on that stretch to stop. But central command asked the RENFE train to start running again without any speed restrictions, and it ended up colliding with the stopped IRYO train at 8:53 a.m.
Puente said the train should never have been ordered to start moving again since there was still an active “stop signal” on that line. And if that was the case, he should have at least been told to drive at a reduced speed.
Puente said they were still studying the information to see how fast the train was traveling, but it could have been 200 km/h (124 mph) on that section of track.
“I’m not attributing responsibility to anyone, I’m just stating the facts,” Puente said.
Everything went up when trains collided, passenger said
The accident, which occurred on a flat stretch surrounded by olive fields between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes, left a car torn into pieces of metal and other materials, scattering debris down a gravel slope.
Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said rescuers were focused on rescuing survivors and bodies from the two most damaged train cars. She said the injured were being sent to different hospitals in the region.
“The impact happened at high speed, so we expect it to be a tragedy,” García said.
Passenger Ignacio Relaño was traveling on the RENFE train. He told state broadcaster TVE that the train stopped momentarily on the line before moving off again and then crashing into the IRYO.
“We all felt the train suddenly slow down and then the impact,” he said. “The car leaned to the side as if it was going to tip over. I hit my nose, everything flew away, the luggage, the cell phones. Everything shook.”
Another passenger told Cadena Ser radio how she felt the train suddenly brake and was thrown forward in her seat, shattering the small table in front of her. She said she saw body parts and trapped people covered in blood.
Padilla said there were 397 passengers on the RENFE train and 147 passengers on the IRYO train.
IRYO, an Italian company, said in a statement that it had “activated its security protocols and worked closely with the authorities.”
The mayor of the neighboring town of Urda, Manuel Galán, said civil protection authorities had asked his officials to prepare a sports pavilion to accommodate injured passengers.
A military emergency brigade was deployed to assist emergency services, firefighters and police. Ambulances and medical helicopters flew to and from the site, while uninjured survivors were transported on buses.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez canceled his agenda to focus on the crash. He wrote on X that he was “dismayed by the serious train accident in Toledo.”
“Emergency services are working on site to attend to affected passengers,” wrote Sánchez, who faces national elections next month. “All my thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
The King of Spain Felipe VI visited the crash site. He and Queen Letizia said in a brief statement on X that they were following the news of the accident.
“We are deeply saddened and concerned by the train accident in Urda (Toledo),” the royal couple said. “We share the grief of the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives, and we extend our sincere support to the injured and all those affected.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of the victims. Today, Europe cries with you. »
The Spanish football federation has postponed all 24 Copa del Rey matches scheduled for Wednesday.
Spain has already suffered a devastating train crash this year
Debris from Wednesday’s accident reminded many of the aftermath of another train collision in January, when 46 people died in southern Spain when an IRYO train left the track and hit an oncoming RENFE train. This caused the first two cars of the impacted train to fall down a four-meter (13-foot) slope.
This accident is the deadliest to occur in Spain since that of 2013, which left 80 dead.
The January incident shook confidence in the European country’s extensive high-speed rail service.
Spain is leader in high-speed rail transport
In recent decades, Spain has invested heavily in high-speed rail – which the country’s railway union defines as rails for trains traveling at 250 km/h (155 mph) and above – making it a world leader.
Spain has laid some 3,900 kilometers (2,400 miles) of such pathways over more than three decades for its 49 million people. Only China, with 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles) for its 1.4 billion people, has more high-speed tracks, according to the International Union of Railways.
Only recently has Spain opened its rail network to private companies to compete with RENFE. IRYO started operating in Spain in 2022.
Spanish railway workers’ union spokesperson Joan Rodríguez said the increase in traffic caused by privatization had put a strain on rail infrastructure.
“We are not convinced that the liberalization of the high-speed rail service has been accompanied by the necessary maintenance of the lines,” Rodríguez told TVE. “I’m not saying it was a determining factor (in the crashes), but yes, the increase in network usage is a factor to keep in mind.”
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