Spain mourns as high-speed train crash toll rises; probe focuses on control centre order

Spain began three days of official mourning on Thursday after a collision between two high-speed trains near the town of Urda in Toledo province, south of Madrid, killed at least 69 people. ABC News reported that Spain's Interior Ministry had raised the toll to 74 by Thursday afternoon as more victims were identified.

The crash happened on Wednesday morning on the Madrid-Seville high-speed line. A train run by state operator Renfe, travelling towards Seville, struck the rear of a train operated by private company Iryo that had come to a halt on the same track. Officials said 397 people were on the Renfe train and 147 on the Iryo service.

What went wrong

Transport Minister Oscar Puente said a computer fault knocked out the train safety and signalling system on a 63-kilometre stretch of the line at about 8:30 am, stopping six trains. He said the control centre then allowed the Renfe train to proceed without speed restrictions, a decision he described as inexplicable, and that the train may have been travelling at around 200 km per hour. Puente said he was not assigning blame to anyone and that the train drivers were not at fault.

Investigators, including a specialist Civil Guard team, are trying to establish why the control centre apparently did not know a train was stopped ahead. Services between Madrid and Andalusia were suspended after the crash.

Injured and families

Regional authorities in Castilla-La Mancha said around 50 people remained in hospital on Thursday, about 15 of them in critical condition. Families have complained of a lack of information as the work of identifying victims continues.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared national mourning from October 29 to 31 and said it was unacceptable for Spain to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in one year. In January, a collision near Adamuz on the same line, also involving Renfe and Iryo trains, killed 46 people. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron sent messages of solidarity.

Why it matters

Spain has one of the world's largest high-speed rail networks, and the crash is likely to prompt close scrutiny of how signalling failures are handled. India, which is building its own high-speed corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, will be among the countries watching the findings of the investigation.