At least 31 killed in central Spain train collision, authorities say

A high-speed train struck the rear of a stopped train in central Spain on Wednesday, derailing two cars, killing at least 31 people and injuring another 80, authorities said. The regional government of Castilla-La Mancha said the death toll had risen to 31.

The two high-speed trains were traveling in the same direction from Madrid to Seville. The accident involved state-owned RENFE and private rail company IRYO. There were 397 passengers on the RENFE train and 147 on the IRYO train, Padilla said.

Spain's rail system operator ADIF said the crash happened Wednesday morning in Toledo province. Rail service was suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia. The cause of the crash was not known.

Manuel Galán, mayor of nearby Urda, said civil protection authorities had asked his town hall to prepare a sports pavilion to attend to passengers. He also said passengers had been injured.

Authorities said at least 68 people were killed and scores more injured when high-speed trains collided south of Madrid on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. They warned that the death toll was likely to rise.

A spokeswoman for the Castilla-La Mancha regional government said more than 100 people had been injured. Of those, 58 had been taken to hospital, including 15 in critical condition.

Transport Minister Oscar Puente said the collision followed an erroneous order for a train to proceed despite a technical failure in the automatic control system that had halted all services on a 69-km stretch.

Puente said the control centre had decided to resume traffic before the system was restored. He described the circumstances in which it restarted services as inexplicable from the ministry's perspective.

The Renfe train then travelled 25km before colliding with the stationary Iryo train, Puente said. He said its speed could have reached up to 200 kilometres per hour.

State railway operator Renfe confirmed that the main high-speed line from Madrid to southern Spain had been suspended after one of its services collided with a train operated by private Spanish company Iryo.

Authorities say at least 68 killed in train collision south of Madrid

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