Spain: Dozens killed in second train disaster this year

Spain was in mourning after scores of people were killed and injured in a train collision. It was the second disastrous crash on the same train line this year.(CN) — Dozens of people were killed Wednesday in central Spain when a high-speed passenger train plowed into the rear of another passenger train stopped on the same line.By late Wednesday, the death toll had risen to 68 people with about 58 others hospitalized, 15 of them with very serious injuries. It was the worst train crash in Spain since a 2013 derailment killed 79 people.The disaster followed another collision in January on the same rail line between Madrid and Seville involving the same two train companies. Forty-six people were killed in the January collision.The two disasters raised serious questions about the safety of Spain’s train system and touched off debates about the state of the country’s infrastructure amid a fierce election campaign pitting center-left Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez against conservative rivals.Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the head of the main opposition center-right Popular Party, said Spaniards “deserve answers” about how the disaster occurred and he called for investigations “free from interference.” He said the entire railway network needed to be examined.“This can no longer be delayed; the public has a right to full accountability for every euro,” he said.Santiago Abascal, the leader of the far-right Vox party, blamed the Sánchez government for “destroying absolutely everything,” including Spain’s infrastructure.Spain will vote for a new parliament on Nov. 29 after Sánchez called snap elections when his left-wing minority government was unable to pass emergency measures to ease tensions over a housing crisis sparked by the eviction of an 87-year-old woman.Spanish Transportation Minister Óscar Puente blamed Wednesday’s collision on a combination of technical failures and human error. He called traffic controllers’ signaling decisions prior to the collision “inexplicable.”“We are absolutely devastated; as you can well imagine, this is one of the most difficult moments one could ever face,” Puente told reporters.A passenger rescued from one of the trains involved in a collision arrives in Urda, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)During a visit to the site of the crash near Toledo, Sánchez declared three days of national mourning.“It is unacceptable for a country like Spain to experience two high-speed rail accidents in a single year,” Sánchez said.He promised the government would get to the bottom of what caused the crash.“If there has been any negligence, it will come to light,” he said. “And if there have been failures in the safety system, they will be addressed with the utmost firmness.”Sánchez said it appeared the causes for the two train crashes were different, but he said the government must strengthen safety to rebuild trust in the high-speed rail network. Investigations point to faulty rails as the cause for January’s collision in Adamuz, a town about 25 miles northeast of Córdoba.Videos from Wednesday’s crash site showed horrifying scenes of mangled wreckage with several passenger carriages turned over on an embankment. Scores of emergency workers and investigators were on the scene.Passengers aboard the trains described being hurled into each other, suffering broken limbs and crawling out windows.Puente said the morning collision occurred after an electronic system that maintains continuous communication between the track and train to control speeds stopped working along a section of the line, forcing six trains to automatically stop.Subsequently, traffic controllers took over from the automatic system and told trains to resume their journeys at normal speed, but at least one train remained stationary, Puente told reporters.Puente said a traffic controller who gave the order for the trains to resume moving was under investigation.A train operated by Renfe, Spain’s state-owned railway company, ran into the back of a train run by Iryo, a private high-speed train company. Both trains were southbound toward Seville.The January accident occurred when an Iryo train derailed as it traveled toward Madrid with two of its rear cars ending up in the opposite track. Seconds later, a southbound train operated by Renfe slammed into the carriages.Wednesday’s collision was the worst train disaster since a 2013 high-speed train derailment in Galicia that killed 79 passengers and injured 145 others.Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.Categories / InternationalSubscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads