Spain has begun three days of national mourning after one of the worst rail disasters in modern European history. On Wednesday morning, October 28, a state-run Renfe high-speed train ran into the back of a stationary train operated by private company Iryo on the Madrid to Seville line, near the town of Urda in Toledo province. By Thursday, the death toll had risen to at least 69.

Here is what has been confirmed so far, based on reporting from the BBC, Reuters and AP.

Where and when it happened

The collision happened at 8:53 a.m. local time between the municipalities of Mora and Orgaz, roughly 140 kilometres south of Madrid by road, according to the Spanish government’s account. The Iryo train was stopped on the track when the Renfe train struck it from behind. The impact derailed carriages and sent some down an embankment.

More than 540 people were on the two trains. A regional government spokesperson said the Iryo train was carrying 146 passengers plus a baby, while the Renfe service had 397 passengers on board.

More than 100 people were treated for injuries. By Thursday, 50 remained in hospital, 15 of them in critical condition, according to Spanish authorities cited by the BBC.

What caused the crash?

The investigation is ongoing, but the early picture points to a chain of decisions after a technical failure rather than a mechanical fault on the trains themselves.

Transport minister Óscar Puente said a computer failure at about 8:30 a.m. automatically halted six moving trains on the line, including the two that later collided. When that happens, he said, the control centre takes over. According to Puente, the control centre then allowed trains to move again without speed restrictions, a decision he described as made under “inexplicable circumstances.”

Reuters reported that the Iryo train had been stopped at a red signal, and that Puente said the Renfe train was restarted in an erroneous decision that broke protocol.

Audio recordings published by Spanish media and reported by the BBC appear to show a controller clearing the Renfe driver to continue “at normal speed” at 8:36, even though the Iryo train was stalled about 25 kilometres ahead. Under normal backup procedures, a driver in that situation would be expected to proceed slowly, by line of sight. A later recording suggests the Iryo driver told the control centre the train could not restart and was still stopped at the entry signal to Urda.

Those recordings have not yet been tested by the official investigation, and authorities have not assigned formal blame.

How Spain is responding

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the crash site and said “the whole of Spain is grieving.” He promised that if there had been negligence, “it will come to light,” and that any failures in the safety system would be addressed firmly.

Most politicians cancelled public engagements and paused campaigning ahead of national elections on November 29. Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said it was not a day for political blame but insisted Spaniards have a right to know what is happening with their infrastructure.

Emergency crews, fire teams and helicopters worked the scene through Wednesday. Hospitals in the region postponed planned surgeries, and a Madrid blood transfusion centre appealed for urgent donations. The Civil Guard set up offices in Madrid, Toledo, Seville and Córdoba to take reports of missing people and collect DNA samples from relatives to help identify victims. High-speed service between Madrid and Andalusia was suspended, and all Spanish cup football matches were postponed.

A second disaster on the same line this year

The crash is especially painful because it is the second deadly high-speed rail accident on this corridor in 2026. In January, a derailment near Adamuz in Córdoba province put carriages in the path of an oncoming Renfe train and killed 46 people.

Reuters noted that Wednesday’s crash is Spain’s deadliest rail accident since 2013, when 80 people died after a high-speed train left the track on a curve near Santiago de Compostela.

What to watch next

Key questions now rest with investigators: why the signalling system failed, who authorised the trains to resume at normal speed, and whether procedures for running trains during a system outage were followed. Expect the death toll and casualty figures to be updated as identification work continues, and expect rail safety to be a central issue in the final month of Spain’s election campaign.

For now, the focus remains on the victims, their families and the dozens of people still in hospital.

Image: Toledo (Spain) Railway Station 1 by Apfel51 via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain Mark 1.0