At Least 68 Killed in Spain Train Collision Near Toledo as Minister Blames Erroneous Restart

URDA — At least 68 people were killed and dozens more were injured on Wednesday when two high-speed trains collided in central Spain, in one of the country's deadliest rail disasters in decades. A state-owned Renfe train ran into the rear of a stationary Iryo service near Urda in Toledo province, derailing carriages and sending wreckage down an embankment beside the Madrid-Andalusia line.

The regional government of Castilla-La Mancha said 58 people required hospital treatment, 15 of them in very serious condition, and warned that the death toll could still rise as rescue teams searched the most badly damaged carriages. Regional president Emiliano Garcia-Page said 24 of the dead were travelling in the lead carriage of the Renfe train and 44 were on the Iryo train, two of whose carriages were destroyed.

The collision happened shortly before 9 a.m. local time at kilometre 118 of the high-speed route, between the towns of Mora and Urda, according to rail infrastructure operator Adif. Both trains were travelling from Madrid toward Seville when the Renfe service struck the Iryo train from behind. In total, 544 passengers were aboard the two services: 397 on the Renfe train and 147 on the Iryo train.

A morning journey turned disaster

Passengers described a sudden, violent impact that threw people from their seats and tilted the train. Miguel, a passenger travelling with colleagues in the rear car of one of the trains, told COPE radio that he heard a massive roar and a thud that went on for about 10 seconds. "Through the right-hand window, we could see a wrecked train," he said.

Jesus Jeronimo, 54, who was travelling to Seville for work on the Renfe train, told the newspaper El Pais that passengers were thrown about by the force of the collision. "We thought we had derailed. Then, little by little, we got out and saw that our train was tilted," he said, describing papers scattered across the carriage floor and survivors helping emergency workers hold intravenous fluid bags for the injured.

Footage from the scene showed a derailed train with carriages remaining on an elevated section of track while twisted metal, broken panels and wreckage lay strewn across the embankment below. Evacuated passengers streamed along a road near the site, some with bandaged wounds and others wheeling suitcases, as volunteers handed out water donated by neighbouring towns.

Rescue operation on the embankment

Firefighters, Civil Guard officers, medical teams and Civil Protection personnel were deployed to the site, alongside medical helicopters and mobile intensive care units. The Military Emergencies Unit sent 200 personnel to search for people trapped in the wreckage, and the most seriously injured were flown to hospitals in Toledo and Alcazar de San Juan.

Spain's health minister, Monica Garcia, said rescuers were concentrating on reaching survivors and recovering victims from the two most heavily damaged carriages. The mayor of Urda, Manuel Galan, said emergency services had asked him to prepare a sports hall to receive injured passengers, and the regional government raised its territorial emergency plan to level 2.

For readers following world news across Europe, the scale of the operation underlined how quickly a routine high-speed journey had become a national emergency. Officials stressed throughout the day that casualty figures remained provisional: the confirmed toll climbed from 10 in the morning to 30, then to 64, and finally to at least 68 as teams reached more of the wreckage.

Minister points to signalling failure and erroneous restart

Transport Minister Oscar Puente told reporters in Madrid that a computer communications failure had disrupted the railway's safety system. He said the LZB control and safety system failed at around 8:30 a.m. because of a communication fault in three computers, leaving a 63-kilometre stretch without it and automatically stopping six trains.

According to the minister, Adif's control centre at Madrid's Atocha station then authorised the Renfe train to resume running normally, despite an active red signal because a stationary train stood on the tracks ahead, and with no speed restriction. Puente described that decision as erroneous and a breach of protocol. The train travelled about 25 kilometres at close to 200 kilometres per hour before the impact, he said.

Puente added that the driver of another train had corrected the controller, telling him the order should have been to proceed on sight at a maximum of 40 kilometres per hour. Renfe said it did not yet know why its train crashed, and officials stressed that the minister's account was preliminary: the full circumstances remain under investigation, and no final finding has been made.

A vital corridor shut down

Adif suspended high-speed services between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia after the collision, stranding passengers across the network and forcing operators to reroute or cancel services for the rest of the day. Renfe said passengers affected by the closure would be offered free ticket changes and cancellations, while services to Seville, Cordoba and Malaga faced severe disruption.

The Madrid-Andalusia line is one of Spain's principal railway arteries, carrying high-speed services between the capital and the south. Its closure affected commuters and tourists travelling south from Madrid, one of the busiest flows on the Spanish network, and live updates on the disruption continued through the evening as operators worked to restore services.

The crash is Spain's second deadly high-speed rail accident this year. A collision near Adamuz in Cordoba province in January killed more than 40 people after a train derailed and smashed into an oncoming service, triggering a debate about investment in railway maintenance. Wednesday's toll has already surpassed that disaster, and officials said it could rise further.

What happens next

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he was shocked by the serious accident in Toledo and was in constant contact with the transport minister and the Castilla-La Mancha president. "Emergency services are working on the ground to assist those affected and ensure their safety, in coordination with all the involved administrations," he said. "My affection, solidarity, and support to all the victims and their families."

News Plus Globe will continue to follow the rescue operation and the investigation as Spanish authorities release confirmed casualty figures and the first formal findings on what caused the collision. Investigators will examine the trains' data recorders, signalling logs and the decisions taken in the control room during the minutes before the crash.

For the families waiting for news, the immediate priority remains the search of the wreckage and the care of the injured. Adif said the line would remain closed until the wreckage is cleared and the track inspected, with no timetable given for reopening, and passengers with bookings on the affected route were advised to check with operators before travelling.