Spain's Train Collision Kills 68: Dispatch Records Show an Order to Resume Full Speed
A high-speed train rear-ended a stopped train near Toledo on Tuesday, killing at least 68 people and injuring 179. The key evidence is now a dispatch recording: an operator in Madrid's control center ordered the second train to resume normal speed while the first train sat on the track.
A high-speed train rear-ended a stopped train near Toledo on Tuesday morning, killing at least 68 people and injuring 179, according to the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha. Two carriages derailed down an embankment, and rescue crews worked through the wreckage into the night. Spain's prime minister has declared three days of national mourning.
The dispatch recording now public is the key evidence. The Paper, a Shanghai-based news outlet, reported that three call recordings capture the control center in Madrid's Atocha station ordering the Renfe train, some 25 kilometers behind the Iryo train, to "disconnect, reconnect, and resume normal speed" — while the Iryo train sat on the track.
Chinese observers have followed the crash closely. A question on Zhihu, the Q&A platform, about the crash and the injuries to Chinese citizens is among the most-read on the platform. The German broadcaster Deutsche Welle noted that the two operators involved, Renfe and Iryo, have now collided twice this year: in January an Iryo train derailed onto the adjacent line and hit a Renfe train, killing 45.
Rail unions have made a different point. After Spain's market liberalization, they argue, traffic surged and maintenance has not kept up. The German broadcaster's report on the crash includes the unions' argument that the system is stretched thin.
Passengers described the collision itself as violent — a Baidu search summary of the crash quotes passengers saying people were "thrown around the carriage" on impact.
The investigation will determine whether the dispatch failure was a single operator's error or a systemic one.