At least 64 people have been killed after a high-speed train collided with another stationary train in central Spain on Wednesday morning, in what authorities have described as the country's deadliest rail disaster in more than a decade. The crash occurred near the city of Toledo, in the Castilla-La Mancha region, derailing carriages and sending several plunging down an embankment.
The death toll, which had initially been reported at 10 before climbing to 30, was confirmed by local officials to have reached 64, with the regional spokesperson warning it was "very likely" to rise further. Hundreds of passengers were on board the two trains at the time of impact.
What Happened in the Toledo Train Crash
Rail operator ADIF confirmed the collision took place on Wednesday morning on a flat stretch of track between the towns of Urda and Los Yebenes, in the province of Toledo. The crash involved two high-speed trains travelling in the same direction from Madrid toward Seville.
According to Castilla-La Mancha regional spokesperson Esther Padilla, one train ran into the rear of the other, which had come to a stop. An official briefed on the accident said the IRYO express train was stationary at a signal when it was struck from behind by the RENFE high-speed service. The impact knocked two carriages off the track, and several others plunged down an embankment.
There were 397 passengers on board the RENFE train and 147 on the IRYO train at the time of the collision. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.
ADIF announced that rail services between Madrid, Ciudad Real, and the southern Andalusia region had been suspended following the incident.
Emergency Response and Survivor Rescue Efforts
Emergency crews, firefighters, police and a military emergency brigade were all deployed to the crash site in the hours following the collision. Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia told state broadcaster TVE that rescue workers were concentrating their efforts on the two most severely damaged carriages, working to pull out both survivors and bodies.
"It was a high-speed impact, so we are expecting this to be a tragedy," Garcia said.
Injured passengers were transported to multiple hospitals across the region. The mayor of the nearby town of Urda, Manuel Galan, said civil protection authorities had requested that a local sports pavilion be prepared to help accommodate and treat passengers from the crash.
IRYO, which is Italian-owned, said in a statement that it had "activated its security protocols and is closely working with authorities." The regional president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano Garcia-Page, announced he was travelling to the crash site.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez cancelled his scheduled engagements for Wednesday to focus on the disaster, writing on social media that he was "dismayed by the serious train accident in Toledo."
Spain's Second Major Rail Disaster of 2026
Wednesday's crash is the second catastrophic rail incident to strike Spain this year, and the deadliest in the country since a 2013 crash that killed 80 people.
In January, 45 people were killed and 120 others injured in the 2026 Adamuz rail disaster, when an IRYO train derailed at high speed and collided with an oncoming RENFE AVE service near Adamuz in southern Spain. That crash, which also involved trains operated by the same two companies now implicated in Wednesday's collision, shook public confidence in Spain's extensive high-speed rail network.
The January disaster remains under investigation. A preliminary report by Spain's Civil Guard, released in February, pointed to defects in the track, rail, or a weld between two sections of track as the leading hypothesis, though investigators kept seven other possible causes open.
The involvement of RENFE and IRYO in both crashes within the same year is certain to intensify scrutiny of Spain's high-speed rail system and the safety protocols governing the relationship between its state-owned and private operators.
Questions Over Spain's Rail Safety Record
Spain has long been regarded as having one of Europe's most advanced high-speed rail networks, with thousands of kilometres of track connecting major cities. The January Adamuz disaster was already considered the deadliest Spanish rail accident since 2013, and Wednesday's Toledo crash now surpasses it in scale.
Authorities have not yet indicated what caused the RENFE train to collide with the stationary IRYO service, and a full investigation is expected to be launched. The focus in the immediate term, officials said, remained on the rescue operation and on ensuring the injured received appropriate medical care across hospitals in the Toledo region.
The back-to-back disasters are likely to prompt urgent questions for both rail companies and the Spanish government about whether sufficient safeguards exist to prevent one high-speed train from striking another on the same line. For those closely watching transport safety, the pattern bears similarities to other high-speed fatal collision cases in which the cause remains contested long after the event.
