68 killed in HSR incident in Spain

[LionKing]

Spain train crash live updates: At least 68 killed in high-speed train crash, with death toll set to rise as nation’s PM says ‘all of Spain is in mourning’

A high-speed train has slammed into another that had stopped on the tracks in Spain, killing at least 68 people and injuring dozens in the second deadly rail collision this year. Follow our coverage.

www.smh.com.au

RIP.
Avoiding train travel in Spain would save your life.

 

[Quickstatus]

Avoiding train travel in Spain would save your life.

There is something problematic about Spain train travel.
2 train derailments earlier this year cost nearly 50 lives and injured another nearly 200 (not including this latest one)

However, based on that sentiment, avoiding any mode of transport could then save your life too.....
In the 12 months to September 2026, the national road toll in Australia was 1334. And the road toll is rising...
Would you stop driving, stop riding in a car, or stop crossing the road?

 

[RooFlyer]

Spain train crash live updates: At least 68 killed in high-speed train crash, with death toll set to rise as nation’s PM says ‘all of Spain is in mourning’

A high-speed train has slammed into another that had stopped on the tracks in Spain, killing at least 68 people and injuring dozens in the second deadly rail collision this year. Follow our coverage.

www.smh.com.au

RIP.
Avoiding train travel in Spain would save your life.

Carp. Done it many times, and I’m getting a high-speed train from Malaga to Barcelona in about a month.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

I've done Madrid-Barcelona and would recommend it.
The service in First Class is excellent, with everything included in the fare, and brought to your seat.
I've also done Madrid-Toledo as recently as February, although this was south of Toledo.
But there were delays due to works on the tracks which could be related.

 

[jb747]

In the 12 months to September 2026, the national road toll in Australia was 1334. And the road toll is rising...

I recall the road toll in Victoria alone being around 1,000. The current numbers may be rising but they have reduced dramatically overall, over the years. Not because of enforcement, or training, or even better roads. The engineers can take the credit for this.

 

[Quickstatus]

The current numbers may be rising but they have reduced dramatically overall

The numbers suggest that on a per person based there is an improvement.

 

[Mattg]

Yikes, I took that exact Renfe train journey last month (in the front carriage, too).

 

[TheRealTMA]

Spain train crash live updates: At least 68 killed in high-speed train crash, with death toll set to rise as nation’s PM says ‘all of Spain is in mourning’

A high-speed train has slammed into another that had stopped on the tracks in Spain, killing at least 68 people and injuring dozens in the second deadly rail collision this year. Follow our coverage.

www.smh.com.au

RIP.
Avoiding train travel in Spain would save your life.

Not necessarily. Spain recorded 1,775 road deaths in 2025

 

[TheRealTMA]

Terrible tragedy. Should never have happened. Interestingly, the same conditions led to the rail disaster in the UK a few months ago where one train was stopped and was hit from behind by a high speed train that was not notified of the stopped train. Wonder if they use the same train controller system.

 

[ayebee]

This is inexcusable.
A railway signalling / comms / train control system must be fail safe.
That one train is allowed to run whilst another is mandated to be stationary on the same track is a basic system design flaw.

 

[OZDUCK]

From the NY Times

"According to Mr. Puente, the railway control operator told the Renfe train conductor to resume regular travel “despite there being another train ahead of it.” The minister called the instruction “incorrect.” The Renfe train traveled 15 miles, or about 25 kilometers, before rear-ending the other train, which had remained stopped on the tracks.

Mr. Puente said the stopped train, which was run by the private company Iryo, had apparently received instructions to move on, as well. According to the Spanish newspaper El País, which on Wednesday evening obtained audio of the exchanges between the conductors and the operators in Madrid, the operator authorized the driver of the Iryo train to resume “normal speed.” But seven minutes later the Iryo driver called to report that she could not restart the train. The Madrid operators failed to tell the driver of the Renfe train, which was closing in, that it needed to brake."

 

[FlyingFiona]

Regardless of any instruction to proceed, the signals were at red meaning that a driver should proceed with caution at a minimal speed, not at 200km/hr!! No rule book would ever permit that. The mind boggles.

 

[henleybeach]

Terrible incident and being a former train driver and current rail operations director, I’ll be very interested in the investigation.

 

[anat0l]

What concerns me is the culture (of safety and actually taking the operation of the trains and railways seriously).

No one wants incidents like this, but they have happened in Spain, France, the UK, Japan and China. Some have been injured, some have died. The reason we don't suddenly stop or lose complete faith in those respective systems is because there is at least some acknowledgement that a serious failure has occurred and the parties agree to serious learnings and modifications in procedure.

I realise that the media (in those respective countries) can portray a lot of flim-flam, but I'm not feeling confident that anyone in Spain is taking this seriously at all; in fact, it's just the opposite - everyone is looking how to extricate themselves from as much responsibility and liability as possible.