The accident near Toledo leaves Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in need of explanation. Experts criticize a lack of investment in infrastructure maintenance.
In the accident near Toledo, the LZB train safety system failed on a section of the route. The control center then instructed a train to continue its journey for unknown reasons - everything points to a human error.
Experts criticize structural problems in Spain's rail network, including poor investment, poor planning and mismanagement over several years.
In 2025, 44.5 million people traveled on high-speed trains, twice as many as in 2019. At the same time, delays and cancellations are increasing.
Spain invested 95,860 euros per kilometer in maintaining its rail network in 2022, less than the EU average of 191,090 euros.
Madrid. The train accident near Toledo, which has so far claimed 69 lives, is causing horror. When looking for the causes of the second tragic train accident in Spain this year, experts point to insufficient investment in infrastructure maintenance.
"The accident leaves me stunned. The high-speed trains were the pride of Spain for years," said Raymond Torres, head of economic analysis at the Foundation of Spanish Savings Banks, Funcas, to Handelsblatt. “But two major accidents in a row suggest there is a structural problem.”
Salvador García-Ayllón, professor of traffic engineering and transport infrastructure at the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT), makes it even clearer in the Spanish newspaper El País. He criticizes “a lack of investment, poor planning and mismanagement in the system over several years”.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said at the scene of the accident on Wednesday: "It is unacceptable for a country like Spain to suffer two high-speed train accidents in one year, as happened here."
This Thursday, the train drivers of the state railway operator Renfe are on strike because of safety concerns. The strike had already been announced before the accident.
Earlier this year, 46 people were killed on the same route from Madrid to Seville when a high-speed train operated by Italian operator Iryo derailed and collided with an oncoming express train operated by Spanish operator AVE. According to current information, the cause was a break in the weld seam of two rail parts.
In the current disaster near Toledo, around 100 kilometers south of Madrid, the LZB train safety system failed for part of the route. Six trains were then automatically stopped.
The control center, which took over the coordination of the trains after the system failure, instructed an AVE to continue driving for reasons that are still unclear, even though there was still an Iryo on the route in front of it. Everything points to a human error - which was only made possible by the system failure.
The LZB (abbreviation for line train control) developed in Germany is considered safe, but is being phased out. Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the LZB “is currently being renewed”. It should be replaced by a more modern system.
Sánchez announced that a government commission on rail accidents is now investigating how the accident occurred. The question of possible failures in the maintenance of the systems and the organization of human monitoring now arises.
Until a few years ago, the Spanish rail network was considered one of the best in the world - fast, safe and extremely reliable: the first route for high-speed trains was the one from Madrid to Seville, which was inaugurated in 1992. Until 2016, passengers received a full fare refund if they were five minutes late.
However, due to the increasing network expansion and, above all, the liberalization of high-speed transport from the end of 2020, the number of trains and passengers on the routes has increased significantly. Delays and train cancellations are increasing.
Last year, 44.5 million people traveled on high-speed trains in Spain - twice as many as in 2019, according to the Spanish competition and regulatory authority CNMC.
Liberalization was fundamentally positive, according to a Funcas study on Spanish infrastructure. However, it “exacerbated the existing operational and financial problems of the Spanish railways”. The study criticizes “serious problems regarding the aging (...) of systems” in the areas of transport, energy, water and digital.
Regarding the transport network, it says that decisions are becoming increasingly politicized, “which pushes the role of experts into the background”. This means that, for example, prestigious high-speed transport is given preference when it comes to investments over infrastructure maintenance or freight transport.
Figures from the EU Commission show that Spain spends less on maintaining its rail network than other countries. In 2022, Madrid invested 95,860 euros in maintaining each kilometer of its rail network, compared to the EU average of almost twice as much - 191,090 euros.
The two train disasters in Spain come at a time when the Spanish economy has been growing faster than the European economy for years - and the state coffers could be correspondingly well filled. After the pandemic, the country also received 163 billion euros from EU reconstruction funds.
“The funds were intended for digital and green change – that is basically the right approach,” says Funcas economics manager Torres. “Maintaining the existing infrastructure is much less attractive, but the money might have been invested more efficiently.”
The recent accident with so many deaths shakes the Spaniards' confidence in their trains. According to information from Handelsblatt, one of the country's large law firms, which previously required its employees to use trains when traveling, lifted this rule on Wednesday and now allows flights. According to information from corporate circles, other large companies are even considering banning their employees from using the trains for the time being.
The uncertainty bursts into the middle of the Spanish primary election campaign. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced new elections at the end of November after two decree laws to alleviate the acute housing shortage in Spain failed to find a majority in parliament.
“After the accident, nothing will be the same,” the newspaper “El País” quoted leading members of all parties as saying. With the exception of the right-wing populist Vox, all parties have canceled all events for the planned three-day national mourning. The accident particularly burdens the socialist government, which is primarily responsible for the railway network.
A union affiliated with Vox had already called for demonstrations in front of the Ministry of Transport in Madrid on Wednesday evening, during which there were clashes between around 1,500 demonstrators and the police.
The conservative PP, which has been leading in the polls for months, has held back from direct criticism. But on
