Spain Train Crash: Audio Reveals Control Centre Orders
Audio recordings published by Spanish media reveal the exchanges between a railway control centre in Madrid and two train drivers shortly before a collision near Urda, in Toledo province, that killed at least 68 people on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. The recordings, published by El País and RTVE according to the BBC, are now central to the investigation, with Spain’s transport minister calling one order “inexplicable”.
What the recordings reveal
According to recordings published by El País, as reported by The Olive Press, an Adif controller at the Atocha control centre told the Renfe AVE driver at 8:36am to switch the train’s LZB safety system off and on and resume “normal running”. The BBC reports that the operator told the driver to proceed under the Lateral Signalling Block, a backup system used when automatic signalling or data transmission fails.
The Olive Press, citing the recordings, says protocol required the AVE to proceed on sight at no more than 40 km/h, and that the controller had not first confirmed the line ahead was clear.
At 8:41am, the Iryo driver reported she had lost transmission and was stopped at the entrance to Urda, and was told to reset the system and resume running under the backup system.
At 8:48am she called again to say the train would not let her reset the LZB system and she was still stopped at the entry signal. The controller acknowledged and said to call back if she had a problem. The collision followed minutes later.
Crash and official response
The crash occurred shortly before 9am at kilometre marker 118 near Urda, when a Renfe AVE train struck a stationary Iryo train from behind, according to ABC News and Spain’s Transport Ministry. Both trains were travelling from Madrid to Seville, and two coaches derailed down an embankment.
Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the preliminary investigation indicates the crash was caused by an “inexplicable” order from rail controllers to let one train proceed despite a safety failure that had halted the train ahead, ABC News reported.
At least 68 people died, ABC News and ITV report, and El Diario says more than 100 were injured, many seriously. Figures could change.
Spain declared three days of national mourning, and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pledged an investigation, ITV reported.
Reactions and background
Some Spanish politicians have criticised the leaking of the audio, the BBC reports.
Iryo said its train was struck from behind “for reasons still unknown” and that it activated emergency protocols, according to IBTimes. No statement from Adif, which runs the control centre, appeared in the sources reviewed.
It is the second deadly high-speed crash in Spain this year, after a January derailment near Adamuz that killed at least 41 people, NPR reported.
What happens next
A planned drivers’ strike was due to go ahead on Thursday “in defence of railway safety”, the Spanish Union of Railway Drivers said, according to the BBC. The investigation continues, and no individual controller has been named in the reports reviewed.
Any findings or official statements will be added here when confirmed.
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