At Least 30 Killed as High-Speed Train Crashes Into Stationary Train in Central Spain

Madrid – At least 30 people were killed on Wednesday when a high-speed train struck the rear of another train that had come to a stop in central Spain, derailing two carriages, according to local media.

Spanish authorities initially reported 10 fatalities, but Esther Padilla, spokeswoman for the Castilla-La Mancha regional government, warned that the figure “will surely rise.” Spain’s state news agency EFE and other media later reported that the death toll had climbed to at least 30. The collision is the second major rail accident in Spain this year.

According to ADIF, the operator of Spain’s rail infrastructure, the crash took place on Wednesday morning in the province of Toledo. Rail services between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia were suspended following the accident.

Padilla told state broadcaster TVE that both high-speed trains, carrying hundreds of passengers, were travelling in the same direction from Madrid to Seville in southwestern Spain. One train crashed into the back of the other, which had stopped, forcing two of its carriages off the track. She said the cause of the collision has not yet been determined.

The accident occurred on a flat stretch of track surrounded by farmland between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes. One carriage was torn apart in the impact, with debris scattered down a gravel embankment.

The trains involved belonged to Spain’s state-owned operator RENFE and the private rail company IRYO. Spanish media reported that the RENFE train appeared to have struck the IRYO train. Padilla said 397 passengers were aboard the RENFE train and 147 aboard the IRYO service. Trains operated by the same two companies were also involved in a fatal crash in January.

IRYO, which is Italian-owned, said in a statement that it had activated its security protocols and was working closely with the authorities.

Health Minister Mónica García told TVE that emergency teams were concentrating on recovering survivors and victims from the two most severely damaged carriages, and that the injured were being transferred to several hospitals in the region. “It was a high-speed impact, so we are expecting this to be a tragedy,” she said.

Manuel Galán, mayor of the nearby town of Urda, told TVE that civil protection authorities had asked the town hall to prepare a sports pavilion to receive injured passengers. A military emergency unit was deployed to assist firefighters, police and emergency services at the scene.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who faces a national election next month, cancelled his schedule to focus on the response to the disaster. Writing on X, he said he was dismayed by the serious train accident in Toledo and that emergency services were working at the site to assist affected passengers. “All my thoughts are with the victims and their families,” he added.

Emiliano García-Page, president of the Castilla-La Mancha region, said on X that he was travelling to the scene of the crash.

In January, 45 people were killed in southern Spain when a train derailed and collided with an oncoming train. That accident was the country’s deadliest rail disaster since 2013, when 80 people lost their lives, and it significantly shook public confidence in Spain’s extensive high-speed rail network.