Spain Train Crash: 69 Dead Near Toledo, 2nd on Same Line in 2026

What happened

At least 69 people were killed on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, when two high-speed trains collided on Spain’s Madrid-Seville line near the town of Urda, in Toledo province, south of Madrid. A Renfe train running from Madrid toward Seville hit the back of an Iryo train that had stopped on the same track, heading the same way, around 8:30 a.m. local time, ABC News reports. The Renfe train was moving at more than 120 mph, according to ABC. Two coaches derailed and went down an embankment.

The two trains carried about 540 people: 397 on the Renfe train and roughly 146 on the Iryo train, according to ABC News and regional officials quoted by Al Jazeera. Hospitals first admitted 110 injured people, and 50 were still in the hospital at last report, 15 of them in critical condition, said Emiliano García-Page, president of the Castilla-La Mancha region.

The Spain train crash is the country’s deadliest since 2013, when 80 people died in Galicia. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez ordered a national mourning period running from Oct. 29 through Oct. 31 and said citizens of up to 27 countries were among the dead, RTÉ reports.

What officials say went wrong

An independent railway accident commission will decide the cause. So far, the government’s account comes from Transport Minister Óscar Puente:

1. About 8:30 a.m.: LZB, the system that supervises train speeds on the line, failed along a stretch of about 63 kilometers (39 miles). Six trains stopped automatically, including the two that later collided.
2. Control moves to Madrid: The Atocha control post in Madrid took over.
3. The key decision: Controllers let the Renfe train continue at normal speed even though the Iryo train was standing still ahead, Puente says. He called that decision “inexplicable.”
4. The rule it broke: In that situation, protocol limits trains to 40 km/h (about 25 mph), Puente said, according to Reuters. Audio obtained by the Spanish newspaper El País reportedly captures the controller giving the go-ahead.

Put the two speeds side by side: 120 mph is roughly 193 km/h, nearly five times the 40 km/h limit Puente cited. Investigators are also looking at why the control center seemed unaware the Iryo train was stopped, ABC reports.

Puente says the controller had been on shift for two hours and that control-center staffing has nearly doubled since 2012. Rail unions don’t accept that framing. Raquel Ayllón, a union leader at track operator Adif, argues that the failed safety system, not a person, is the real issue, Reuters reports.

The delayed upgrade

LZB is an older system. Spain has been replacing it with ERTMS, the European standard for train control, which already runs on most of the country’s high-speed network. On the Madrid-Seville line, though, the upgrade was due by early 2026 and fell behind. The contract moved from Thales to Hitachi Rail in 2024, and Puente now expects ERTMS to work on the line in early 2027, according to Reuters. He said LZB averages about 170 failures a year, which he described as similar to the rest of Europe. Thales declined to comment on the delay.

Two crashes, one line

That makes at least 115 deaths on one high-speed corridor in about nine months. García-Page said the two crashes appear to have unrelated causes, but that the investigators will decide. After the January crash, the government promised to inspect every line in the country, Al Jazeera reports.

Who says what

Sánchez called it “unacceptable” that a country with rail as advanced as Spain’s had two such crashes in one year, and said “trust has been broken,” according to RTÉ. He has promised to find the causes, strengthen safety and compensate victims’ families. He also said that if negligence is found, it will be made public.

Lawmakers across the political spectrum have criticized Puente for pointing at control-center staff, and unions want him fired, Reuters reports. Puente says he won’t resign and that his job now is to fix the problem. He added that he had never used the phrase “human error,” though he didn’t rule it out.

What happens next

• Identification: Officials have completed 49 autopsies and formally identified five victims, and the Civil Guard lists 64 people as missing. Officials say the death toll could still rise.
• Investigation: The independent commission’s findings will settle the cause. The Civil Guard has also sent a disaster investigation team.
• Service: High-speed trains between Madrid and Andalusia were suspended, and Iryo canceled its southern services from Madrid with no restart date.
• Politics: Spain holds a national election on Nov. 29, so the crash and the minister’s future are likely to stay in the campaign.

Quick answers

Where did the Spain train crash happen?

Near Urda, in Toledo province in the Castilla-La Mancha region, on the high-speed line between Madrid and Seville.

What caused the train crash in Spain?

The official investigation isn’t finished. The transport minister says controllers let a train continue at full speed after a signal-system failure, with a stopped train ahead on the same track.

How many people died in the Spain train crash?

At least 69, according to the latest official count reported on Oct. 30. Officials say the number could rise.