High-Speed Train Collision Kills 30 in Toledo

At least 30 people died when a moving high-speed train struck the rear of a stationary train in central Spain on Wednesday morning.

The regional government of Castilla-La Mancha confirmed the death toll of 30 to the Agence France-Presse news agency. The collision occurred in the province of Toledo, according to Spain's rail system operator ADIF. Authorities suspended rail service between Madrid, Ciudad Real, and Andalusia following the incident.

Spain's rail infrastructure minister, Padilla, told state broadcaster TVE that both trains were traveling in the same direction from Madrid to Seville. One train hit the stopped vehicle, causing two cars to derail. Padilla stated that the cause of the crash remained unknown at the time of her briefing.

The accident involved a RENFE state-owned train carrying 397 passengers and an IRYO private company train with 147 passengers. Manuel Galán, the mayor of the nearby town of Urda, said civil protection authorities requested the local town hall prepare a sports pavilion to treat injured passengers.

Emiliano García-Page, the regional president of Castilla-La Mancha, posted on X that he was traveling to the crash site. This is the second major incident involving these two rail companies in less than a year. In January, a derailment in southern Spain killed 45 people when a train jumped the tracks and struck an oncoming service.

The January crash was the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 accident that claimed 80 lives. That previous incident had shaken public confidence in the country's extensive high-speed rail network.