The trains, one from Spain’s state-owned Renfe and the other from the private rail company Iryo, were travelling on Wednesday morning in the same direction on the line that stretches from the capital, Madrid, to the southern region of Andalusia. After the Iryo train came to a halt, the other slammed into its rear, knocking several carriages off the track near the town of Urda.
The transport minister said the collision happened after a Renfe service was authorised to proceed despite an active red signal due to a stationary train ahead. Minister Oscar Puente told reporters in Madrid that the red signal was issued due to a computer communications failure, which automatically stopped traffic, but an erroneous decision was then taken to restart the Renfe train.
The disaster, the deadliest train accident in Europe since a 2013 derailment in Spain in which 80 people died, follows another fatal accident in January involving high-speed trains operated by the same companies on the same line, in which 46 people died.
