(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) A high-speed train rear-ended accident occurred in central Spain on Wednesday (October 28). At least 64 people were killed and 80 injured. Rescue workers are still searching for survivors and remains of victims in the wreckage.
Stopped train was rear-ended by a car behind it
According to reports by the Associated Press and the German Press Agency, the accident occurred on a flat section of road between the towns of Urda and Los Yebenes in the province of Toledo, about 130 kilometers south of Madrid, surrounded by olive tree fields.
The two high-speed trains are traveling in the same direction, from Madrid to Andalusia in the south. According to sources from the Spanish Railway Infrastructure Authority (ADIF), a train of the private railway company IRYO stopped for unknown reasons and was rear-ended by a train of the state-owned railway company RENFE shortly before 9 a.m. According to Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, two carriages of the IRYO train derailed and fell down the railway embankment. One car was smashed into metal fragments and its remains were scattered on the gravel slope.
Esther Padilla, spokesperson for the Castilla-La Mancha Autonomous Region government, said that there were 146 passengers and infants on the IRYO train and 397 people on the RENFE train. The cause of the accident is unclear. Rail services between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia have been suspended.
According to the Associated Press, a passenger on the RENFE train told Spanish national television (TVE) that the train stopped briefly, then restarted, and then the impact occurred. He said the carriage tilted to one side, as if it was about to tip over, and all the luggage and mobile phones flew up.
Rescue and response from all parties
Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said rescuers were concentrating on the two most seriously damaged carriages, and the injured were sent to multiple hospitals in the area. "It was a high-velocity impact, so we expected it to be a tragedy," she said. A military emergency brigade has been dispatched to the scene to assist with rescue operations. Ambulances and medical helicopters flew to and from the injured, while uninjured passengers were taken away by bus. Manuel Galan, the mayor of Urda town, said that the civil defense department has asked the town government to prepare a gymnasium to treat the injured.
IRYO is an Italian capital-controlled company. The company said it has activated safety plans and is working closely with authorities.
Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez canceled his original schedule to focus on dealing with the accident. He expressed on X that he was "deeply shocked" by this serious accident. Sanchez faces national elections next month. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia expressed their deep sorrow and expressed condolences to the families of the victims and the injured. European Commission President von der Leyen said: "Today, Europe mourns with you." The Spanish Football Association postponed all 24 Copa del Rey matches scheduled for that day.
Has maintenance kept up with the rail network since it opened?
This is Spain's second major rail accident this year, also involving the same two companies. In January this year, an IRYO train derailed near Adamus in the south and hit an oncoming RENFE train, killing 46 people. It was Spain's deadliest rail accident since 2013, when 80 people were killed, and it had shaken public confidence in Spain's high-speed rail system.
Spain has invested heavily in high-speed rail over the past few decades. According to statistics from the International Union of Railways, Spain has laid approximately 3,900 kilometers of high-speed rail lines in more than 30 years, with the total mileage second only to China. Spain only recently opened its rail network to private companies, with IRYO starting operations in Spain in 2022.
Joan Rodriguez, spokesperson for the Spanish Railway Workers Union, told Spanish national television that the increase in passenger traffic brought about by liberalization has caused additional pressure on railway infrastructure. He said that the union believed that while high-speed rail passenger transport was being liberalized, the lines had not been maintained as necessary; he was not saying that this was the decisive factor in the accident, but that the increased use of the railway network was a factor that needed to be considered.
