Two high-speed trains collide in Toledo, killing 64

A high-speed train crashed into the back of another train on Wednesday morning in the province of Toledo, killing at least 64 people.

The central government's office for Castilla La Mancha confirmed the death toll had risen. Regional President Emiliano García-Page stated that at least 80 people were injured as rescue workers continued searching the wreckage for survivors and bodies.

Rail system operator ADIF reported the accident occurred between two trains carrying hundreds of passengers. Esther Padilla, a spokesperson for the Castilla La Mancha region, said both services were traveling in the same direction from Madrid to Seville. The RENFE train struck the rear of the IRYO train, which had stopped on the track. The impact knocked two cars off the rails.

The collision took place in a flat area surrounded by olive fields between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes. One car was shredded into metal fragments and other materials, scattering debris down a gravel slope. Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said emergency workers focused on the two most damaged cars to recover survivors. Injured passengers were transported to various regional hospitals. García described the scene as a tragedy due to the high-speed impact.

Ignacio Relaño, a passenger on the RENFE train, told state broadcaster TVE that the train slowed abruptly before the impact. He described the car leaning to one side and luggage flying through the air. “We all felt the train abruptly slowing down and then the impact,” he said. “The car leaned to one side like it was about to tip over. I hit my nose, everything went flying, luggage, cell phones. Everything shook.”

Padilla reported that 397 passengers were aboard the RENFE train and 147 were on the IRYO service. Spanish media reported that the RENFE train rammed the IRYO train. García-Page said 24 people died in the RENFE train and six in the IRYO train. IRYO, an Italian-owned company that began operating in Spain in 2022, stated it had activated security protocols and was working with authorities.

Mayors and civil protection authorities prepared a sports pavilion in nearby Urda to care for injured passengers. A military emergency brigade assisted firefighters, police, and medical teams. Ambulances and helicopters shuttled patients to hospitals, while buses carried unscathed survivors away from the site. Rail service between Madrid, Ciudad Real, and Andalusia was suspended.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez canceled his agenda to focus on the crash. He wrote on X that he was dismayed by the accident and that emergency services were attending to affected passengers. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia expressed their sadness and concern in a statement on X, sharing in the grief of the families of those who lost their lives. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Europe mourned with the victims' families.

This is the second major train accident in Spain this year. In January, a IRYO train jumped the track and hit an oncoming RENFE train in southern Spain, killing 46 people. That crash was the deadliest in the country since a 2013 accident that killed 80 people. Spain's soccer federation postponed all 24 Copa del Rey games scheduled for Wednesday.

Spain has invested heavily in high-speed rail over the last three decades, laying 3,900 kilometers of track. Only China has more high-speed track. The country recently opened its rail network to private companies to compete against the state-owned RENFE. Joan Rodríguez, a spokesperson for the train workers' union, told TVE that increased traffic from privatization has put extra strain on the infrastructure. “We are not convinced that the liberalization of the high-speed passenger rail service was matched by the necessary upkeep of the lines,” he said.