LIVE - Train accident in Spain: France without news of “several” nationals, the death toll rises to 69

The Civil Guard has received, to date, 64 reports from people reporting the disappearance of loved ones following the train accident that occurred this Wednesday in Urda (Toledo), El País report. According to sources from the Guarda Civil who communicated with the Efe agency, these reports were recorded in the various offices set up for the families of the victims.

The police opened four “ante mortem” offices in Madrid, Seville, Cordoba and Toledo – cities corresponding to the points of departure, passage and destination of the damaged trains – in order to allow relatives, without news of the people who were on board, to file a report. In these offices, agents collect information likely to facilitate identification operations - such as the presence of scars or tattoos on passengers who have not been heard from - and take DNA samples from close (first-degree) relatives, for comparison with the bodies found.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Thursday called for “clarification” of the causes behind the train accident which left at least 69 dead the day before in Urda, according to the latest report communicated by regional authorities.

The socialist leader also called for “reparation, at least on a material level” for “the families of the victims of this terrible tragedy”.

The nightmare repeats itself on the Spanish rails. The collision of two high-speed trains this Wednesday, October 28 near Toledo left at least 68 dead and dozens injured, less than a year after a previous disaster which deeply shocked the country. Pointed out by the opposition, the socialist government had nevertheless initiated an emergency plan. But this new accident brings back fears about the proper functioning of the Iberian rail network.

The high-speed train network is however a source of pride in Spain: with 4000km, our neighbors have the second largest network in the world, second only to China and far ahead of France (2800km). Two companies, Ouigo España, a subsidiary of SNCF, and Iryo, supported by the Italian national company, have been competing with the historic company Renfe since 2021 and 2022. An opening to competition which caused an explosion in traffic and lowered prices.

Rail Europe was in shock on Wednesday after the extremely rare collision between two high-speed trains on the same track in the Toledo region in Spain, which caused the death of at least 68 people. In Brussels, the European Commission declared itself ready to provide assistance to the Spanish authorities. The French Minister of Transport Philippe Tabarot expressed his “deep emotion” on X and said “wait with great attention for explanations” about the disaster.

On Linkedln, managers of European railway companies - the birthplace of high speed - were moved by the disaster. “The train accident in Spain leaves me stunned. It touches the heart of the railway family,” writes the general director of German Deutsche Bahn, Evelyn Palla. The CEO of the French SNCF Jean Castex expressed his “sadness”, sent his “condolences” and his “solidarity”, in French and Spanish. The Belgian railway company Infrabel declared itself “deeply affected” by this “dramatic rail accident”.

68 victims, dozens of injured, several in serious condition. And Dantesque scenes, described by the survivors as they exited the two trains that collided on the Madrid Seville line, in Urda, in the province of Toledo, 120 kilometers south of the capital. One of the worst Spanish railway disasters, while the sinister podium had already been shaken by the Adamuz accident, 46 dead, which occurred on the same line only nine months ago, on January 18.

And if the sad day of this Wednesday lacked despair, the Spaniards learned that the tragedy had been caused by the “inexplicable” actions of Adif, the network manager. The qualifier is that of the Minister of Transport, Oscar Puente, who delivered a sober account of the facts at the beginning of the afternoon.

“But what is this security system worthy of the Third World, based on the simple error of an operator who misinterprets operating protocols, commits an error of judgment or loses concentration for a few seconds?” protests the right-wing site El Español the day after the collision between two trains in Spain. “And why did this mistake not happen for decades, and now, just nine months after the Adamuz accident, a similar disaster occurs again due to the fault of a single operator?”

El Español is not the only local media to accuse Pedro Sánchez the day after the tragedy, as noted by Courrier international. “Sánchez is the Prime Minister and must do more than simply recognize that these tragedies are unacceptable,” adds La Vanguardia. “This is a matter that requires political responsibility, and the accident cannot be excused by a simple “human error” when there was also a failure of the safety system,” believes the centrist Catalan daily. “Two accidents in one year, twice responsible,” adds the conservative ABC title. “This demonstrates the dual responsibility of his government in the face of manifest incompetence in infrastructure management.”

When the Spanish government mentions human error behind the tragedy, the press blames it on its own responsibility. “Chance and the errors of judgment of a single person can cause unbearable tragedies,” comments El Confidencial, for example. “But in some cases, these accidents are the consequence of long chains of command that start from the top and trickle down to daily operations,” he observes. In other words, “they are the result of a structural situation.” El Mundo adds that the succession of such serious accidents in less than a year “is not the result of chance, but rather the consequence of the complete degradation of the system, due to a negligent government”.

“It’s inexplicable.” The Spanish Minister of Transport, Oscar Puente, looks serious when discussing the collision that occurred on Wednesday near Urda, in the province of Toledo, which left at least 68 dead according to initial reports. The cause was a computer failure in the LZB rail security system, followed by a series of decisions at the Atocha control center in Madrid.

Between the breakdown, which occurred around 8:30 a.m., and the shock, around 8:53 a.m., 23 minutes passed. The AVE 2080, which left Madrid at 7:54 a.m. towards Seville with 397 passengers, traveled approximately 25 kilometers after receiving authorization to resume its route. In front of him, the Iryo 6076, which carried 147 people after leaving at 8 a.m., was still stopped.

This disaster raised questions about the safety of the Spanish rail network after the Minister of Transport spoke of “an error” and “inexplicable circumstances” which led to the collision.

The investigation is ongoing, but the socialist government is facing strong criticism regarding the management of the railway network, particularly from the right-wing and far-right opposition. “Spain has the right to know what is happening with its infrastructure, what state the roads and security systems are in,” demanded the leader of the Popular Party (PP, right), Alberto Nuñez Feijoo.

The collision occurred in the Castile-La Mancha region on Wednesday morning when a high-speed train of the national company Renfe collided with a stationary train belonging to the private Spanish company Iryo. Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the signaling system had broken down, initially causing the “automatic stopping” of six trains in the area, including the two damaged trains.

But a few minutes later, the control center ordered the Renfe train to resume operation, a “wrong” and “inexplicable” decision, in the words of Óscar Puente. In a quarter of an hour, this Renfe train traveled 25 kilometers, according to the minister, before colliding, at a still unknown speed and in a straight line, with the Iryo train, which remained stationary. The control center had “plenty of time to check the error, but they did not rectify it,” said Mr. Puente.