Spain train crash: 'At least 10 dead' in high-speed collision

Scaled

Article is completely pay walled; please consider deleting and reposting with a readable source.

Frieren

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20261028-two-high-speed-t... As of writing the article says 10. Other sources, sadly, indicate up to 39.

qeternity

There is something deeply broken with Spanish rail.

Foobar8568

It feels like every few years there is such collision in Spain :-/

Markoff

more like 46 dead already so much for European safety, now compare it to volumes on Chinese HSR and number of deaths there compared to Spain edit: inconvenient truth for downvoters? 50 according one of the biggesr Spanish newspapers, just open the homepage, you can read 50 even in Spanish https://www.abc.es so thanks everyone for downvotes just because you use slow news sources or deny the truth EU high speed trains are extremely dangerous compared to China on deaths/volume

jiwidi

Another one. The public minister of transport is still on his chair after the last ones. No responsability admited and blaming the far right for attacking him with media. Is amazing how the current politic scene at spain has shittified, they get away with everything and ppl will still clap for them.

peri-cl

El Pais is reporting they think it was a controller error, https://elpais.com/espana/2026-10-28/por-que-han-chocado-dos... An automated system[*] had failed earlier this morning, so controllers were working manually. [*] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linienzugbeeinflussung ("LZB") [added translation]: "The LZB safety system, which controls Spain's high-speed rail network, malfunctioned on Wednesday morning, causing about eight trains to come to a halt in the area. The control center then switched to manual control and ordered all trains to resume operation. However, the Iryo, for reasons that remain unclear, was unable to start and remained stationary. And that is where human error came into play, according to these initial hypotheses."

jsrozner

https://www.reuters.com/world/two-high-speed-trains-rear-end... Says the Spanish train crash in Jan of this year that killed 46 was the "same operators on the same line."

stevefan1999

Just a few days ago Spain is still in riot mode. The next protest is going to be on 31th October apparently. This is gonna add fuel to the fire, and as I lived in East Asia (Hong Kong to be specific) I'm kind of curious why it all happened around the eurozone lately. France, Albania, Belgium, Spain, Greece, UK and Serbia recently (although it is not eurozone but closely related anyway as part of the great Balkans). What's left? Germany and Poland I guess? Anyhow it really reminds me of the First World War

david-gpu

From the article in El País: > “A human error by an [state-owned railway infrastructure company] Adif operator in response to a malfunction in the main signaling system is the likely cause of the accident,” government sources said. This safety system is automated, but when it fails, it switches to manual mode. That is why the trains came to a stop when the automatic safety system failed, and service resumed under human control — and that is where the error occurred, according to initial analyses. This is not the first time something broadly like that happens. In 2013 another train crashed because there was a section of the track where the operator had to manually adjust the speed, and he didn't. One would think that the operation of these trains would be fully automated at all times, and with sufficient allowances to handle emergencies safely. Point in case: Japan has not had a single death due to a crash of a high speed train, even though they have been operating an extensive network for decades.

wastedpotencial

The government here in Spain is more concerned with staying in power than solving real problems or improving infrastructure. Hope this was the final straw we have to endure and they pay for their negligence at best, evil at worst in court. Sorry to make a political statement with this tragedy, but the downgrade in Spain in recent years is just too much. DEP and my condolences to the relatives and love ones.

andy12_

Just a couple of days ago the Spanish Transport minister appeared in a comedy sketch where he made fun of the current dysfunctional state of the rail system he is responsible of[1]: > "Due to a system malfunction, the elevator will be out of service longer than usual," the public address system announces. The minister laments, "Oh, for heaven's sake. As if we didn't have enough to deal with already with Renfe." Very funny minister... [1] https://www.lasexta.com/programas/cara-show-marc-giro/oscar-...

motionlessveloc

Every year that passes, Japan's record of zero fatal high-speed train accidents since the Shinkansen was inaugurated in the 1960s becomes more and more incredible, with 10 billion passengers and counting. (Excluding suicides/people falling on tracks, that is. And that one poor student in 1995 who got stuck in the door of a departing train and was dragged to his death.)

steveBK123

At this point, Spain must have the worst high speed rail safety record in Europe if not.. more broadly? I am a little surprised doing some light searching that its one of the longest high speed rail systems / highest passenger count HSR systems in Europe? I've only taken HSR in France & Italy and not been to Spain in over 15 years so was not aware of the build out.

orwin

People can say it's 'years of neglect' and might even believe it, but to me it's clear train liberalisation directly caused 2 train incident in Spain this year. Yes trains are slightly cheaper (for now, look at GB to estimate how long the low prices will last), but I'm not so sure the redundancy you pay for in a public monopoly is worthless, especially in areas where an incident can cause this many deaths.

lopotubez

It baffles my mind that trains never had the technology for sensors so they could atleast slow down before incoming collisions. Stuff like this just further enhances my fear of collective travelling.

ricardobayes

I think Spain needs a complete mindset change, to fully come to the 21st century. While there are truly many people who "take their job" seriously, the overall "world of work", and professional standards are very, very low in Spain. Yes, it's a generalization, but anyone living in Spain will tell and complain about bad company practices, no or slow responses, and a general lack of professionalism, in all sectors. Further than that, almost all problems and tension in Spain would disappear if earnings caught up to at least the European standard. In short, Spain needs to re-invent its world of professionalism. I'm not saying that it should become like Swizerland overnight but the current mindset is incompatible with the 21st century's complexities. Portugal is currently further along that road.