MADRID (The Thursday Times) — At least 30 people were killed on Wednesday when two high-speed trains collided on the Madrid–Seville line in Spain’s Toledo province, nine months after a crash between trains of the same two operators on the same route killed 46 people.
A Renfe AVE train struck the rear of a stationary Iryo train near Urda station at around 8.54am, according to preliminary Transport Ministry information reported by El País, and two Iryo carriages derailed and fell down an embankment. The regional government of Castilla-La Mancha raised the death toll to at least 30 later on Wednesday, after earlier putting it at 10, and government sources told El País they feared the disaster could prove “worse than Adamuz”.
The Renfe train was carrying 397 passengers and the Iryo train 147, said Esther Padilla, a spokesperson for the Castilla-La Mancha regional government. Television footage showed a carriage left on an elevated section of track and wreckage strewn across the embankment below.
Line shut, campaign halted
Rail infrastructure operator Adif suspended all traffic on the high-speed line between Madrid and Andalusia. Firefighters, three medical helicopters and mobile intensive care units were sent to the scene, Madrid sent extra emergency teams, and the Civil Guard dispatched a disaster investigation unit, and the mayor of Urda said a sports hall was being prepared to receive passengers and the injured.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who faces a general election next month, cleared his schedule and said he was “shocked by the serious train accident in Toledo”. The opposition People’s Party and other parties cancelled campaign events. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid all issued condolences.
Second disaster in a year
In January, a derailed train smashed into an oncoming service near Adamuz in Córdoba province, killing 46 people and triggering a national debate over spending on railway maintenance. The cause of Wednesday’s collision is under investigation.
