Spanish controllers told a driver to go at 'normal speed' minutes before a crash into a stalled train killed 69
Train driver Antonio Acedo, 36, who activated the emergency brake before the collision but was killed instantly when Madrid's control room directed him to resume normal speed without warning him of the stationary Iryo…Fátima Báñez, who pioneered controversial labour reforms as employment minister under Mariano Rajoy, was confirmed dead by the business confederation she chaired.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.
A safety system failure on Wednesday morning knocked out the LZB automatic braking network across a 63km stretch of the Madrid-Seville line, forcing human controllers to manually manage six trains on the affected track. A controller in Madrid then cleared the Renfe service driven by Antonio Acedo, 36, to resume at normal speed — never informing him that a stationary Iryo train lay ahead. Acedo activated the emergency brake in his final seconds, with his family calling him a hero for saving hundreds of passengers.
Railway unions reject the government's blame on one controller, pointing instead to staff cuts leaving fewer workers managing more trains.
Among the 69 dead are long jumper Julieta Gallego, 24, and former employment minister Fátima Báñez, 59; a TV presenter and a composer are still missing.
The crash has thrown Spain's snap election into turmoil, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez now forced to defend his government's rail safety record weeks before polling day.
