Spain’s Worst Rail Crash in 13 Years Kills at Least 68
At least 68 people were killed on Wednesday when a Renfe high-speed train from Madrid to Seville ran into a stationary Iryo train near Toledo. Transport Minister Óscar Puente said a computer failure had halted six trains, after which Madrid’s control centre took an “inexplicable” decision to let them move again without speed restrictions. More than 500 people were on board the two trains.
It is Spain’s second deadly high-speed crash this year, after a collision on the same line near Córdoba in January. “The whole of Spain is grieving,” Pedro Sánchez said at the scene, calling two serious crashes in a year “unacceptable”. Three days of official mourning began today. The politics are already sharp: the CSIF union has demanded Puente’s resignation, accusing him of “scapegoating” a traffic controller, and train drivers are pressing ahead with a strike today “in defence of railway safety”. With a general election due next month, rail safety is now a campaign issue; Vox alone kept campaigning on Wednesday.