Two high-speed trains collided in Toledo, Spain, on Wednesday, causing at least 68 deaths, in an accident that the government described as “truly untrue.” One of the trains received an “inexplicable” order to advance. What do you know?
© Getty Images
29/10/2026
by
News to Minute, Lusa
Two passenger trains – one from Renfe and one from Iryo – collided on Wednesday, October 28, near Urda station in Toledo, Spain, just before 9 a.m. locals (8 a.m. in Lisbon). The accident involved two high-speed compositions that made connections between Madrid and Seville in the south. The Spanish government described the accident as “truely inverosimile”, which occurred after an “inexplicable” order was given.
The number of deaths, which already exceeds six dozen (68), may still rise as rescue and rescue work continues. On board the two trains followed 544 people.
A former Labour Minister, Fatima Báñez, is one of the fatalities, reported ABC. The 59-year-old former governor, current president of the CEOE Foundation, was on a trip to Seville where she would participate in the CEA Company Day ceremony. An officer of the Civil Guard is also among the already confirmed dead.
The collision between the two high-speed trains took place one day before Renfe's train strike, which was scheduled for Thursday. It was a protest against the lack of security.
Train received “inexplicable” order
O yesterday’s railway accident in Spain is “actually untrue” and took place after one of the trains received an “inexplicable” order to advance when there was a red light and other compositions stopped on the same lineaccording to the government.
According to Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente, there were around 8.30 locals (7.30 a.m. in Lisbon), a failure in the automatic security system, because of faults in the communication networks, which forced to stop automatically all trains circulating in a section of 63 km.
Due to computer failure, traffic control has now been assumed by a control centre operating in Madrid.
That's when, at 8:36, one of the trains (one AVE by Renfe) received an order or was authorised to “resume the march normally” and crashed with another train from the private company Iryo, which was still parked at the entrance of Urda stationPuente revealed yesterday at a press conference in Madrid.
At that time, according to all the protocols, the CVA train, like the rest of them that were in that 63-mile section, “it had to be stopped and could not resume the march”, there being, moreover, another train on the same track and a red light that should prevent it from moving, he said.
Renfe's train also traveled 25 kilometres in 15 to 17 minutes before hitting Iryo on a track where these compositions can reach 200 kilometres per hour, he added.
“An accident by scope on the Spanish railway network is truly inverosimilar” and the indication given by the control centre is “inexplicable”, considered the minister.
Three audios about tragedy revealed: “normal journey”?
Three audio recordings were also revealed on Wednesday after the collision – and show the failures that have been committed and culminated in the fateful accident.
Two of the recordings show conversations between Iryo's train driver and the control station. The other is the order given for the composition of Renfe to follow journey.
According to El País, the controller ordered Renfe's train, the AVE, which was 25 kilometers behind Iryo's train, so that resume the “normal journey” and did not stipulate what dictates the protocol, which is a speed limit of 40 km/ h.
Alongside this, the controller gave the order without checking if there was a train blocking the track.
Why, the train driver Iryo also received the same order. However, seven minutes later he calls the control centre and says he is still stopped because he cannot restart the train via the LZB system.
The CVA train, which was behind, was not informed that a train was stopped and that it should stop.
Three days of mourning. “If there has been negligence, it will be known”
Following the accident, the spanish government decreed three days of mourning. According to RTVE, this measure was suggested by the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, “in a sign of mourning for the victims”. They start on Thursday at 00:00 locals and end on October 31 at 24:00 locals.
Pedro Sánchez also assured that the authorities will “to the end” to discover the causes of the railway accident: “If there has been negligence, it will be known”.
On the other hand the instructor judge of the investigation process of the railway accident in Urda prohibited access to the area and removing elements to “preserve evidence, evidence and evidence”.
Wednesday's railway accident is even more serious than that in Adamuz earlier this year. On January 18th, remember, another incident involved two high-speed trains, one from Renfe and one from Iryo.
Renfe's train, which made the link between Madrid and Huelva (in southwestern Spain, near the southern border of Portugal) shocked Renfe's compositions that had derailed a few seconds earlier. In the accident 46 people died and about 120 were injured.