At least 10 people were killed Wednesday when a high-speed train crashed into the back of a stationary train in central Spain, derailing two carriages, authorities said.
Esther Padilla, a spokeswoman for the Castilla-La Mancha regional government, confirmed the death toll at 10 but warned that it was expected to increase.
The collision marked Spain’s second major train disaster of the year.
Rail operator ADIF said the crash took place Wednesday morning in the province of Toledo. Train service was halted along routes connecting Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia.
Padilla told Spain’s state broadcaster TVE that both trains were high-speed services carrying hundreds of passengers from Madrid to Seville. They were traveling in the same direction when one train struck the rear of the other after it had stopped. The impact forced two carriages off the tracks. Investigators had not yet determined what caused the crash.
Emergency crews work at the scene of a train collision in Urda, Spain, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (Juanma Jiménez/Europa Press via AP)
The crash occurred across a level, open area between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes. One carriage was torn apart, leaving twisted metal and debris scattered down a gravel embankment.
Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said rescuers were concentrating on reaching survivors and recovering victims from the two most heavily damaged carriages. Those injured were being transported to hospitals throughout the surrounding area, she told TVE.
“It was a high-speed impact, so we are expecting this to be a tragedy,” García said.
The site of a train collision in Urda, Spain, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (Juanma Jimenez/Europa Press via AP)
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The trains belonged to Spain’s state-run RENFE and private operator IRYO. Spanish media reported that the RENFE service appeared to have struck the IRYO train. Services operated by the same two companies were involved in a fatal crash in January.
According to Padilla, the RENFE train had 397 passengers aboard, while 147 people were traveling on the IRYO service.
IRYO, which is owned by an Italian company, said it had activated its emergency and security procedures and was cooperating closely with officials.
Manuel Galán, mayor of nearby Urda, told TVE that civil protection officials had asked the town to ready a sports center where injured passengers could receive assistance.
A military emergency response brigade joined firefighters, police and other emergency personnel at the site.
Passengers wait at Santa Justa station in Seville, Andalusia, Spain, after a train crash near Urda, Toledo, on Oct. 28, 2026. The collision involving a Renfe AVE train and an Iryo service suspended trains on the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed route after two Iryo carriages derailed. (Europa Press via Getty Images)
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez cancelled his scheduled events to address the disaster. In a post on X, he said he was “dismayed by the serious train accident in Toledo.”
“Emergency services are working on site to attend to the affected passengers,” Sánchez wrote. “All my thoughts are with the victims and their families.” He is facing a national election next month.
Emiliano García-Page, the president of Castilla-La Mancha, said on X that he was traveling to the crash site.
The latest accident follows a January disaster in southern Spain that killed 45 people after one train left the tracks and struck another traveling in the opposite direction. It was Spain’s deadliest rail crash since 2013, when 80 people died, and further undermined public confidence in the country’s extensive high-speed train network.
