What caused the latest high-speed Spanish train crash tragedy?

Rescue workers in Spain on ⁠Wednesday were scouring the wreckage for more bodies at the crash scene where at least 64 people were killed when two high-speed trains collided, in the second deadly railway accident in the country this year.Evacuated passengers streamed along a road near the scene, some splattered with ⁠blood or with their wounds bandaged, ​others wheeling ⁠suitcases and being given water by volunteers who said it had been donated from neighbouring towns.Hundreds of ambulances, funeral home vans and helicopters were ⁠parked next to a train with several carriages sitting on an elevated section ​of ⁠track while twisted metal, broken panels ‌and wreckage could be seen strewn across an embankment beneath the line where at least three carriages had plunged.What caused Spain’s deadly train crash?One of the train’s ran into the tail of the other which had stopped, knocking two of its cars off the track. The crash, which occurred in a flat stretch surrounded by fields in between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes, left one car shredded into bits of metal and other material, scattering debris down a gravel slope. The train crash follows a similar incident on the same line back in January (AP)A person briefed on the disaster said an express operated by Spanish train operator Iryo stopped near Toledo due to a signal fault, on orders from infrastructure manager ADIF, when it was struck by another high-speed train on. A train operated by Renfe then struck the ⁠stationary train at high speed, causing several carriages of both trains to derail, the person said. There was no immediate response to a request for comment from Iryo or Renfe.Traffic on the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed rail line has been suspended (Reuters)The crash follows a collision nine months ago, where high-speed trains belonging to the same operators on the same line killed 46 people. Experts on site identified wear on the joint between sections of the rail, known as a fishplate, which they said showed the fault had been there for some time, a source briefed on the preliminary probe told Reuters. They found that the faulty joint created a gap between the rail sections that widened as trains continued to travel on the track.The crash, which occurred in January, triggered a debate about the level of investment in railway maintenance in recent years.Accidents, including derailments and collisions, increased from 45 in 2016 to 57 in 2024 and 69 last year, according to Spain's railway safety authority. ‌In the same period, problems such as deterioration and breaks in the rails went from 494 and 667, a level below the 716 registered in 2024.