Spain begins three days of mourning after train crash kills at least 68 people

Spain’s government has declared three days of mourning after the country’s second high-speed rail disaster this year killed 68 people.

Wednesday’s crash in the central province of Toledo, in which one train struck a stationary train from behind, raises fresh concerns about the safety of the country’s rail network.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pledged an investigation into the collision and improvements to prevent further tragedies on the railways as he visited the crash site near the town of Urda.

As recently as January, 46 people died when one train jumped the track and slammed into the side of another going the opposite way in southern Spain.

It marks the second high-speed rail disaster in Spain this year. / Credit: AP

“It is clear that we need to reinforce the safety of our train service to rebuild the trust in our high-speed rail,” Sánchez said.

“It is not acceptable for a country like Spain to endure two high-speed train accidents in the same year.”

Sánchez’s government declared three days of mourning starting from Thursday.

Both of Spain’s deadly crashes this year involved a train operated by the state-owned RENFE company and one from the privately owned IRYO.

Human error was behind the crash

Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente said that the crash was caused by what he called an “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 39 miles stopped working due to a computer malfunction, causing all trains on that stretch to stop.

At that point the IRYO train was stopped near the town of Urda, while the RENFE train was 15.5 miles behind it.

But a few minutes later the central command told the RENFE train to start running again without any speed restrictions, and it ended up colliding with the stationary 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.

Workers started to use cranes to move parts of the damaged trains late on Wednesday after a hectic day involving hundreds of emergency workers, firefighters, police and soldiers all pitching in to rescue survivors and recover bodies.

Crash raises political implications for Sánchez ahead of election

Sánchez has weathered many crises since taking power in 2018, staying in power and winning re-election after the Covid-19 pandemic and the global rise in inflation.

But polls show he faces another uphill battle when voters cast ballots in Spain’s first national election since 2023. The new rail disaster can’t help the prospects of his Socialist party.

Sánchez and other progressive parties had hoped to leverage a wave of discontent over housing costs and high rents when he called for early elections earlier this month.

In a post on X about an hour before news of Wednesday’s crash spread, Sánchez said: “There are lots of reasons to be optimistic about this country.”

Wednesday’s crash raises fresh concerns about the safety of the country’s rail network. / Credit: AP

Now it appears he will have to handle concerns over the state of Spain’s rail service along with attacks from right-wing parties over his liberal migration policies and accusations of corruption against his party and his wife, which both he and his wife deny.

Spain’s network of high-speed rail has been considered one of the nation’s crowning achievements. It ranks second to China in track mileage in the world. Until this year, it had not endured a deadly crash since coming into service over three decades ago.

Puente, had to handle media questions over whether he would resign following a second major train wreck under his watch. His response was that he was fully focused on dealing with the collision, not his future.

Sánchez’s main rival, Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, demanded a full investigation of the crash. The conservative leader said that in respect for the victims his party cancelled its campaign events for the day.

“This is the moment to respect the dead, the injured and their families,” Núñez Feijóo said. “That does not mean we will ignore the fact that Spaniards are asking tough questions that demand answers.”

The far-right Vox leader, Santiago Abascal, who is likely hoping to enter a coalition government with the conservatives, did not show the same restraint.

“More dead. Another tragedy. More rage over being left to fend for ourselves, the despair and the betrayal that Spaniards are enduring,” Abascal said just hours after the crash.

“I promise to work tirelessly until this government, which is a criminal organization, is sitting in a courtroom to answer for its crimes,” he said.