Audio reveals drivers discussed resuming 'normal speed' moments before Spain train crash as death toll rises to 74
Wrecked carriages thrown down an embankment near Urda, Toledo, after controllers directed a Renfe train to resume at full speed into a stationary Iryo service carrying 147 passengers.Smoke rises from derailed carriages between Los Yébenes and Urda after the crash, which emergency crews feared could surpass the Adamuz disaster, where 46 people died in January.Mangled wreckage on its side after two high-speed trains collided in Toledo province, Spain, killing at least 39 people and leaving survivors scrambling clear while passengers remained trapped.The derailed train near Urda, Toledo, where a computer failure prompted controllers to direct a Renfe service to resume at full speed — a decision Spain's Transport Minister Óscar Puente said left operators with "more…
Spain's transport minister Óscar Puente called the control centre's decision to wave through the Renfe train "inexplicable" — newly released audio now reveals drivers were discussing a return to normal speed moments before the collision, suggesting no awareness of the stationary Iryo train ahead. The crash near Toledo on Wednesday, the country's second deadly rail disaster in 2026, killed at least 74 people after the death toll rose Thursday, with 15 survivors still in intensive care.
Former employment minister Fátima Báñez and long jumper Julieta Gallego, 24, are among the named victims.
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia cleared their schedules to visit survivors at a hospital close to the crash site as three days of national mourning got under way.
Spain suffered its first deadly rail crash of 2026 in January — involving the same two operators, Renfe and Iryo — killing 46 people.
