Μake us preferred on Google Two high-speed, killing at least 68 people and marking one of the country’s deadliest rail disasters and the second on the same line this year.
The crash happened Wednesday morning on a line between the capital Madrid and the southern city of Seville when a train traveling at about 125 miles an hour rammed into the back of another train that had stopped on the tracks.
Rescue personnel work at the site of the collision of two high-speed trains between the towns of Mora and Orgaz, near Toledo, Spain, October 28, 2026. REUTERS/Ana Beltran
Around 70 people were injured, 15 of them seriously, according to local officials. Around 540 people were traveling on the two trains, they said.
The incident is the second major rail crash in less than a year on the high-speed line between Madrid and Andalusia, after 46 people were killed in a collision near Cordoba in January.
Both collisions involved trains operated by state-owned Renfe and rail operator Iryo, which is majority-controlled by Italy’s state-owned rail company Trenitalia.
The Iryo train stopped on the tracks at around 8:30 a.m. local time due to a technical glitch, and other trains on the line were brought to a halt, Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente said at a press conference. Less than 10 minutes later, the Renfe train was given the all clear to continue its journey, he said. It traveled roughly 15 miles before colliding with the stationary train. “It is a truly unbelievable accident,” Puente said.
Rescue personnel work at the site of the collision of two high-speed trains between the towns of Mora and Orgaz, near Toledo, Spain, October 28, 2026. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
Upended train cars were left strewn down an embankment, while bloodied passengers picked their way through debris and mangled aluminum. Emergency workers were on the ground assessing the damage.
The crash raises questions over the safety of Spain’s rail infrastructure. Completed in 1992, the route was Spain’s first high-speed line. The country’s bullet-train network has since grown to be the world’s second-largest, after China’s.
Rescue personnel work at the site of the collision of two high-speed trains between the towns of Mora and Orgaz, near Toledo, Spain, October 28, 2026. REUTERS/Ana Beltran TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Spain’s train drivers union said it would go ahead with a planned strike for Thursday to protest the country’s lack of rail safety.
After the latest crash, service on the line—one of Spain’s main transport arteries to the south of the country—was suspended, said Adif, which manages national rail infrastructure.
The governing and main opposition parties said they would postpone planned political events Wednesday ahead of national elections set to take place next month.
Rescue personnel work at the site of the collision of two high-speed trains between the towns of Mora and Orgaz, near Toledo, Spain, October 28, 2026. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
“It is unacceptable for Spain to have two high-speed rail accidents in a single year,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters.
Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com and Andrea Figueras at andrea.figueras@wsj.com
