The Spain train crash on Wednesday morning has killed at least 68 people, making it the country’s deadliest rail disaster since 2013. A Renfe high-speed train carrying 397 passengers struck the rear of a stationary Iryo train with about 147 passengers on board near Urda, in Toledo province. Transport Minister Óscar Puente has called the decision to let trains resume moving without speed restrictions “inexplicable,” and leaked audio published in Spanish media is now at the center of the investigation.
The Spain train crash on the Madrid-Seville high-speed line has left a nation in mourning and put railway safety under intense scrutiny. Regional officials say at least 68 people died and dozens more were injured when two trains collided on Wednesday, October 28, between Urda and Los Yébenes in Castilla-La Mancha. Authorities have warned the toll could still change as crews continue to search the wreckage.
What Happened Near Urda
Both trains were traveling from Madrid toward Seville. According to Puente, the collision happened shortly before 9 a.m. local time, at about 8:53 a.m., though Iryo gave an earlier time of 8:48 a.m.
The minister said a computer malfunction disabled a safety system at about 8:30 a.m. and forced six moving trains, including the two involved in the crash, to halt along the affected stretch. Under normal procedures, the railway control center takes responsibility when such a failure occurs.
Puente said the control center then authorized trains to move again without speed restrictions. The Renfe train resumed its journey while the Iryo train remained stationary farther ahead on the tracks. The Renfe train then struck the Iryo train from behind, according to the minister’s preliminary account. Iryo said its carriages were “struck from behind.” Two carriages derailed and plunged down an embankment, and one of them caught fire.
What the Leaked Audio Reveals
Recordings published by Spanish outlets including El País and RTVE capture exchanges between the Madrid control center and the two drivers in the minutes before the collision.
In one, a controller speaks to the Renfe driver, who had been reporting technical difficulties. The controller says: “Continue your journey and then proceed under [Lateral Signalling Block], at normal speed with normal operation.” The driver asks, “At normal speed?” and the controller answers: “Yes.” The Lateral Signalling Block is a back-up system used when automatic signalling or data transmission fails.
In another, the Iryo driver says the train is “stationary in front of the entry signal at Urda.” After further exchanges, the driver is told to resume the journey, but later reports being unable to start: “The train won’t allow me to control the [security] system. That’s why I am still stopped in front of the entry signal.” That recording suggests the controller knew the Iryo train had not moved as the Renfe train approached.
The publication of the audio has drawn criticism. Alberto Ibáñez, a Sumar member of Congress, called the leak “despicable” on X. Irene Montero, the Podemos candidate for prime minister, said responsibility should not fall on one worker and that drivers and experts have long warned against the liberalization of the rail sector. Puente has said he is not assigning blame at this stage and that the train engineers were not at fault.
The Human Toll
Emiliano García-Page, president of Castilla-La Mancha, said at least 68 people had died. According to the regional government, 24 of the dead were on the Renfe train and 44 on the Iryo train. At least 15 people were seriously injured, and more than 50 others were hospitalized with lesser injuries.
Survivors described scenes of chaos. Miguel Ángel Pérez, who was in the last carriage of the Renfe train, told RTVE that passengers had been told the train was stopping because of an overload on the track, and that the impact came moments later. Another passenger, Ana, told Reuters she heard screams, that passengers broke windows to escape, and that firefighters pulled her from the wreckage. She was hurt in the face and leg, and her sister was also injured.
More than 900 Civil Guard personnel from specialist units have been deployed, along with drones, helicopters and search dogs. A Civil Guard spokesperson told the BBC the priority is identifying the dead, and families of the missing have been urged to visit local centers that are collecting DNA samples. The U.S. State Department confirmed that several American citizens were injured, though it had not indicated any were among the dead.
Mourning, Protest and Political Fallout
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who visited the crash site, promised authorities would “get to the bottom of every last detail of this tragedy.” The government declared three days of national mourning from Thursday to Saturday. On Thursday, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visited injured passengers at a hospital in Toledo.
Politics has been swept up in the aftermath. Most parties suspended campaigning ahead of the snap election on November 29, while Vox leader Santiago Abascal said his party would not take part in what he called attempts to “use mourning to silence criticism.” Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said: “Spain has the right to know what is happening with its infrastructure.”
Overnight, about 1,500 people gathered outside the Transport Ministry in Madrid, largely demanding the resignations of Sánchez and Puente, according to broadcaster TVE. Police used tear gas after bottles and flares were thrown, and no injuries or arrests were reported. Rail drivers also went ahead with a planned strike on Thursday, with the Semaf union saying it was “in defence of railway safety.”
A Second Deadly Crash in 2026
The collision is the second major high-speed rail disaster in Spain this year. In January, a crash near Adamuz, in Córdoba province, involving trains run by the same two operators killed more than 40 people. García-Page said the causes of the two accidents appear unrelated based on current information, but that the independent railway accident investigation commission must establish the facts.
It is also Spain’s worst crash since the 2013 derailment in Galicia, which killed 80 people.
What Comes Next
Investigators will examine signalling records, computer systems and the communications between controllers and drivers. Officials stress that the sequence they have described is preliminary, and that the precise technical circumstances, individual responsibilities and whether procedures were followed have not yet been established.
Iryo said it has activated emergency protocols and is cooperating with authorities, and has canceled all services departing Madrid-Puerta de Atocha along the Southern Corridor with no date for resumption.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
