Heartbreaking news coming out of Spain: A Renfe AVE that left Madrid’s Puerta de Atocha station rear-ended an Iryo train stopped on the tracks at 8:54 a.m., and at least 64 people are dead with about 179 injured, 50 of them in very serious condition.
The crash happened this Wednesday near the town of Urda, in Toledo province, roughly 150 kilometers south of Madrid. Around 544 people were on the two trains, 397 on the Renfe and 147 on the Iryo, and the impact knocked two Iryo cars off the rails.
Some of those cars plunged down an embankment. Early reports were all over the place, with numbers jumping from 10 to 30 to 46 before settling at 64 and counting. Officials say the toll could still climb as crews dig through the wreckage.
Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the control system near Urda failed, six trains were halted, and one was let go and traveled 25 kilometers before hitting a stopped train at high speed. He called how that happened “inexplicable.”
In January, 46 people died near Adamuz when an Iryo train jumped the track and slammed into an oncoming Renfe train. Reuters reported that train drivers’ union Semaf had sent the rail administrator Adif a letter in August warning of severe wear and tear on the Madrid-Andalusia line and others.
Spain is a leader in high-speed rail, and January’s crash already shook public confidence in the system. Spain’s rail-accident investigation commission, CIAIAF, has opened an inquiry, and no official cause has been given. Investigators will look at whether the safety system failed, was overridden, or was degraded in the stretch where the Iryo stopped. The line between Madrid and Andalucía has been suspended.