MADRID, Oct. 28 (TodayViralUSA) — A high-speed train crashed into the back of another train that had stopped on the tracks in central Spain on Wednesday, killing at least 68 people and injuring dozens in the country’s second deadly rail disaster this year.
The collision happened shortly before 9 a.m. local time on the Madrid–Seville line near Urda, in the Toledo province of the Castilla-La Mancha region, roughly 85 miles (140 kilometers) south of the capital. A Renfe-operated train heading south struck a stationary train run by the private operator Iryo, sending at least two carriages down an embankment, according to the BBC and Spanish authorities.
More than 500 people were believed to be aboard the two trains. Regional officials said the Iryo train carried 146 passengers and a baby, and the Renfe train 397 passengers. Regional authorities said 58 people were being treated in hospital, and officials warned the death toll could rise.
A signaling failure and a fateful order
Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the investigation is focused on an “inexplicable” decision by the central traffic control center in Madrid, not on the actions of the train drivers.
According to Puente, at around 8:30 a.m. the LZB automatic train-protection system failed along a 39-mile (63-kilometer) stretch of track because of a computer malfunction, automatically halting about six trains. Control of the traffic then passed to the control center.
At 8:36 a.m., Puente said, the Renfe AVE train was authorized to resume normal running even though a red signal remained active on the line. It traveled about 15 miles (25 kilometers) before hitting the stopped Iryo train at around 8:53 a.m., Euronews reported. Puente said the train should instead have been running under a line-of-sight procedure, which requires reduced speed so drivers can stop short of obstacles, and that it may have been traveling at up to about 125 mph (200 kph).
Spanish broadcaster RTVE reported that the Guardia Civil had questioned the control center employee who was managing traffic at the time.
National mourning
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the crash site, declared three days of national mourning and said “the whole of Spain is grieving.” He vowed that any negligence or failures in the safety system would be uncovered and addressed “with the utmost firmness.” Sánchez and other politicians canceled public events, including campaigning for next month’s parliamentary elections.
Hospitals in Toledo, Ciudad Real and Alcázar de San Juan suspended planned procedures to handle casualties, and Madrid’s blood transfusion center issued an urgent appeal for donations. The European Union said it stood ready to help.
Rail traffic between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia remained suspended.
Second disaster in a year
The crash comes nine months after a high-speed derailment in southern Spain in January, when rear carriages of one train were pushed into the path of a Renfe train, killing 46 people.
Sources & Credits
- Associated Press: High-speed train collision kills at least 68 in Spain’s 2nd deadly rail crash this year
- BBC News: What we know so far about deadly Spain train crash
- Euronews: ‘Inexplicable’ order by control centre investigated after Spain train crash
- RTVE: Guardia Civil questions control center operator (Spanish)
Image: An Iryo Frecciarossa 1000 high-speed train in Madrid (file photo, not the train involved), by Javier Pérez Montes, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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