Spain's Deadly High-Speed Crash: How a Control-Room Order Sent One Train Into Another, and Why It Matters Beyond Spain
At least 69 people were killed when a state-run AVE train struck a stopped private train near Toledo on Wednesday. Spain's transport minister calls the order that let it proceed "inexplicable." The disaster is the country's second high-speed rail tragedy this year, a month before a national election.
By Clara Hughes
Spain's high-speed rail network has long been one of that country's proudest achievements. It is the second-largest in the world, after China's, and until this year it had not suffered a deadly crash in more than three decades of service, according to The Associated Press. On Wednesday morning, October 28, that record suffered its second blow in ten months. A high-speed train operated by Spain's state-owned rail company, RENFE, struck the rear of a train operated by the privately owned IRYO, which was stopped on the same track on the Madrid–Seville line near the town of Urda, in the province of Toledo. The collision happened at 8:53 a.m. local time. As of Thursday, the death toll stood at 69, according to Emiliano García-Page, the regional leader of Castilla-La Mancha, as reported by the AP via CBC News. Officials have stressed that the toll is provisional. García-Page said 50 people remained hospitalized. Spain's government declared three days of mourning, beginning Thursday. "Yesterday we experienced a catastrophe that without a doubt has left all of Spain in shock," García-Page said. What happened: