Spain Train Collision Death Toll Stands at 69 as Investigation Continues
Spain’s Transport Ministry has set the provisional death toll from Wednesday’s high-speed train collision near Urda, Toledo, at 69. The number of injured people remains unconfirmed. The ministry briefly raised the toll to 74 on Thursday before restoring the figure to 69. Police have asked victims’ families to provide DNA samples to assist identification.
The collision involved a Renfe train carrying 393 people and a stationary Iryo train carrying 151 passengers. Both had departed Madrid for Seville earlier that morning. The Renfe train struck the rear of the Iryo train at about 8:53 a.m., according to Transport Minister Óscar Puente.
Puente said a communications failure involving three railway computers took the LZB train-control system offline along 63 kilometers of track around 8:30 a.m. Several trains stopped automatically, leaving traffic management to the central command center. At 8:36 a.m., operators authorized the Renfe train to proceed, although Puente said a red signal should have prevented that decision. The train traveled approximately 25 kilometers before the collision.
Puente described the authorization as an error and said investigators had identified the operator who made the decision. He has not spoken to that person, and authorities have not issued final findings on the cause. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said authorities were working to support victims and establish what happened. His government plans three days of mourning.
Renfe has suspended services between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia. The crash is Spain’s deadliest rail accident since 80 people died near Santiago de Compostela in 2013. Another collision involving Renfe and Iryo trains in January killed 46 people and injured 122.
Spain has nearly 4,000 kilometers of high-speed track, according to the International Union of Railways. Puente said the network remains safe but acknowledged that failures can occur despite established rules and safety protocols during rail operations.