Chaos and anguish in Atocha: "It can't be, again. It seems like a nightmare"

Hundreds of police, emergency personnel, security personnel and an army of workers in yellow vests are trying to bring order to an Atocha station plunged into chaos and confusion after this morning's train accident in Urda (Toledo), where a Renfe AVE that was covering the Madrid-Seville route hit an Iryo train traveling in the same direction from behind.

The crash occurred at 8:54 and two carriages fell down an embankment. There were 147 passengers on the Iryo and 397 on the AVE. The Government of Castilla-La Mancha puts the death toll at at least 30, although the first estimates on the ground, still unofficial, suggest that the toll could be close to fifty. Adif has interrupted circulation on the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed line.

This cut is felt in every corner of the Madrid station. No train bound for Andalusia leaves Atocha. Iryo and Ouigo have canceled all their services from Madrid to the southern corridor, and Renfe has enabled free changes and cancellations.

Passengers are directed on foot to the buses that wait down the street, in Méndez Álvaro, a road clogged by vehicles and by the constant procession of travelers, most of them bound for Seville, who drag their suitcases along the sidewalk.

Referrals occur officially and informally. When confused travelers ask for help, the railway company employees themselves suggest walking to the neighboring bus station to look for alternatives. "If you are in a hurry, it is best to go to Méndez Álvaro and try to get a ticket."

At the Méndez Álvaro access, human traffic jams even form. There is a small passage for pedestrians who access the station from the left side, while the press remains cordoned off between fences on the road. Dozens of riot police allow special vehicles to pass and order taxi drivers to continue driving: "You can't stop at the station. Keep going."

Next to that entrance there is a fenced area that only police, health workers and railway personnel can access. In this sense, Adif has announced care points for those affected in Madrid-Atocha, Seville-Santa Justa and Córdoba-Julio Anguita.

"It could have been us," says a woman, sadly, on her way to one of the buses located hundreds of meters below, on Méndez Álvaro Street. Meanwhile, among the groups of affected travelers a comparison is repeated: "This is like Adamuz again." On January 18, the derailment of an Iryo and an Alvia in that town in Córdoba caused 46 deaths. The ghost is also present among the employees: "It can't be that this has happened again, this seems like a nightmare," laments a Renfe worker. "A couple of horrible days are coming," said two workers.