Renfe offers free changes and cancellations after the 28 October collision near Urda. Authorities say 50 people remain in hospital, including 15 in critical condition, while an alternative Madrid–Andalusia service is due to start on 30 October.
Renfe opened a victims’ helpline and offered free ticket changes and cancellations after the 28 October collision near Urda, Spain, killed at least 69 people. The Royal Spanish Athletics Federation has also confirmed that long jumper Julieta Gallego was among those killed.
The state-owned Renfe train struck the rear of a stationary train run by private operator Iryo in Toledo province. Both were serving the Madrid–Seville route; Spain’s transport minister, Óscar Puente, put the impact at approximately 08:53. The collision followed a January rail crash at Adamuz that killed 46 people.
The Royal Spanish Athletics Federation confirmed in a statement on X that long jumper Julieta Gallego was killed in the collision at Urda, Al Jazeera said on 29 October.
The Spanish government released the audio to Spanish media, the Guardian said on 29 October. In the recording, a controller in Madrid tells the driver of the halted Renfe AVE high-speed service to continue under normal operations, rather than at low speed.
Puente called the instruction an “inexplicable decision”. The recording provides evidence of the order given to the driver, but it does not establish the full cause of the crash or determine responsibility. The initial signalling failure and the technical sequence that allowed one train to move while the other remained stopped are still under investigation.
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Politico said on 29 October that Fátima Báñez, Spain’s former employment minister, was among those killed.
Spain’s Civil Guard, also known as Guardia Civil, opened offices in Madrid, Toledo, Córdoba and Seville to investigate missing-person reports and collect relatives’ DNA samples—genetic material that can help identify victims. The force said identifying missing people and collecting samples were its top priority. A school in Urda served as an information centre for relatives, with Red Cross workers offering support. Blood donation points were also set up in Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid.
Officials said on 28 October that 107 people had needed hospital treatment, including 15 in serious condition. Spanish authorities said 50 remained in hospital on 29 October, including 15 in critical condition. The later figure counts patients still receiving inpatient care, not everyone injured.
Castilla-La Mancha regional government spokeswoman Esther Padilla told TVE on 29 October that rescuers were working carefully because they could not rule out more victims trapped in the wreckage. Teams with sniffer dogs continued searching that morning.
Hospitals in the area suspended planned surgeries while receiving crash casualties, Spanish media said. Madrid’s Centro de Transfusión blood transfusion centre said facilities in Toledo, Ciudad Real and Alcázar de San Juan had cancelled procedures as casualties arrived. It appealed for urgent blood donations because of a possible sudden increase in care needs.
Castilla-La Mancha president Emiliano García-Page announced 64 deaths by 15:00 on 28 October and raised the toll to 68 after 15:30, adding four deaths on the Iryo train. He warned that more victims were likely because rescuers had not reached the bottom of the carriages. Spain began three days of mourning on 29 October.
Medics and Civil Guard officers attended the site, and a sports centre in Urda assessed and prioritised treatment for injured people who could walk. Emergency teams came from Castilla-La Mancha and neighbouring Madrid. Residents brought food and water to a hall for people searching for relatives, the Guardian said on 28 October.
Renfe, Iryo and Adif have dedicated contact numbers for those affected, listed by Maldita.es on 28 October. People not directly affected have been asked not to call, so the lines remain available.
| Organization | Telephone |
|---|---|
| Renfe | 900 10 10 20 |
| Iryo | 900 001 403 |
| Adif | 900 00 14 02 |
Adif, Spain’s rail infrastructure administrator, established assistance points at Madrid-Puerta de Atocha Almudena Grandes, Sevilla-Santa Justa, Córdoba-Julio Anguita and Málaga-María Zambrano stations. It announced the interruption of the Madrid–Andalusia high-speed line at 09:10 on 28 October. Renfe suspended services between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia and made free changes and cancellations available for all affected trains.
The Spanish Football Federation postponed all 24 Copa del Rey football matches scheduled for 28 October, along with other national competition fixtures under its control, as a mark of respect for those killed and injured. Its replacement schedule spread the matches across several dates: nine were scheduled for 29 October, while the five affected clubs from La Liga, Spain’s top division, received dates between 3 and 13 November.
| La Liga club | Opponent | New date |
|---|---|---|
| Alaves | Anaitasuna | 3 November |
| Levante | Tarancón | 5 November |
| Valencia | Tavernes de la Valldigna | 10 November |
| Real Betis | Navalcarnero | 12 November |
| Celta Vigo | Salamanca | 13 November |
Renfe is due to start an alternative service between Madrid and Andalusia on 30 October, Al Jazeera said on 29 October. The planned service would provide a travel option while high-speed services on the corridor remain suspended.
Renfe said on 28 October that it had suspended ticket sales on the Madrid–Andalusia high-speed corridor until 13 December. The same deadline appeared alongside the alternative-service announcement on 29 October. It is a ticket-sales deadline, not a confirmed reopening date for the high-speed line.
| Train | Passengers | Source of figure |
|---|---|---|
| Stopped Iryo train | 147 | Óscar Puente |
| Renfe train that struck it | 397 | Iryo |
Puente said a computer failure at about 08:30 on 28 October halted six trains, including the two involved in the collision. He said the Madrid control centre took over and authorised trains to move again without speed restrictions.
Accounts of Puente’s remarks differed on the length of track affected. France 24 quoted him saying the automatic control system failed across 69 km. Earlier accounts put the affected stretch at roughly 63 km and the number of halted trains at an estimated six.
Puente said the Renfe train travelled 25 km after receiving permission to proceed. He alleged that the control centre had enough time to verify and correct the error but did not. Renfe confirmed that its train moved as instructed, but said investigators must establish the exact sequence of events, traffic conditions and circumstances of the impact.
Recordings obtained by Spanish media appear to show clearance to move at 08:36 on 28 October while another train about 25 km ahead had stalled, the BBC said on 29 October. The exchanges involve drivers and Madrid controllers working for Adif.
In one exchange, a controller tells the Renfe driver to disconnect and reconnect LZB, the automatic system that monitors train speeds and can stop a train when the line ahead is occupied. The controller then instructs the driver to continue at normal speed under the signalling arrangement called Lateral Signalling Block. The driver asks, “At normal speed?” The controller answers, “Yes.”
In another exchange, the Iryo driver says the train is stationary before Urda’s entry signal. A controller instructs the driver to resume normally, but the driver later says the train cannot restart because it will not allow control of its security system. The BBC said this suggests the controller had been told the Iryo train remained stopped as the Renfe train approached. That interpretation is not a final investigation finding.
High-speed lines have multiple safeguards, including automatic train operation, intended to prevent trains from coming close together on the same track. The cause of the initial signalling failure and why those safeguards did not prevent this collision remain unexplained. Investigators will examine the sequence of events and the technical conditions that allowed the Renfe train to proceed while the Iryo train stayed stopped.
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