WorldPosted at: Nov 1 2026 12:07AM


Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez facing mounting public pressure on railway security amid 3rd day of mourning train crash at Urda

Madrid, Oct 31 (UNI) As Spain observed its third day of national mourning today following the deadly train collision near Urda, in Toledo, which claimed over 69 lives, the country's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been facing mounting pressure over railway safety and the failing public confidence in the country's rail network.
Residents and local officials gathered in a nearby village for a memorial Mass honouring the victims. San Juan Bautista church was packed, with dozens more people standing outside to follow the service, some visibly overcome with emotion.
Meanwhile, relatives continued to face uncertainty as authorities worked to identify the dead. Sánchez said today that the government was working "tirelessly" to complete the process.
Castilla-La Mancha regional leader Emiliano García-Page warned that authorities could not rule out further fatalities, saying emergency services had recovered "31 bags of partial remains", complicating identification efforts.
The authorities overseeing the process said 67 missing-person reports remained active, including 14 involving foreign nationals from the US, Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Tunisia and the Czech Republic.
Portugal's government confirmed on Friday that a Portuguese citizen who worked on one of the trains was among those killed. A further 39 injured passengers remained in hospital in Castilla-La Mancha.
Wednesday's collision was Spain's second major train disaster this year and one of Europe's deadliest rail accidents this century. It has renewed scrutiny of the country's railway infrastructure, particularly the systems designed to prevent collisions.
The Spanish union of Train Drivers and Railway Assistants (Semaf) has called for an urgent review of the regulations governing train operations when automatic protection systems fail.
In a statement, the union urged the State Railway Safety Agency (AESF) to "clarify and amend the regulations governing the rail protection system, LZB", as well as procedures linked to the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS).
Preliminary information from the Independent Authority for the Technical Investigation of Accidents and Incidents (AITAT) indicates that the LZB system stopped functioning at 8.31am, local time, Wednesday, before the collision. Investigators have yet to establish whether the malfunction directly caused the accident.
Semaf wants to ensure that trains cannot resume normal operations when a failure creates the risk of two services occupying the same section of track.
Transport Minister Óscar Puente, who ruled out resigning on Friday, has announced new measures intended to reduce technical risks and "restore public confidence" in the railway system, although details have yet to be disclosed.
Train drivers say their concerns predate the latest disaster. In January 2026, Semaf reported that hundreds of drivers had repeatedly raised concerns about incidents across the railway network without receiving responses or seeing corrective action.
Following the deadly collision near Adamuz, Córdoba, in January, which killed 46 people, the union reached an agreement with the government to strengthen rail safety. However, Semaf has since complained of delays in implementing the measures.
The latest crash has intensified pressure on Sánchez ahead of elections scheduled for November. The prime minister acknowledged on Friday that public trust in the high-speed rail network had been "shattered", pledging to introduce solutions to prevent further accidents.
The collision occurred on a key railway line linking Madrid with Seville, which was also the site of January's disaster in Andalucía.
Semaf has called two further strikes at state-owned operator Renfe, scheduled for 10 and 12 November, demanding "structural measures" to improve railway safety. The union also maintained a stoppage on Thursday that had been planned before Wednesday's collision.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the main conservative opposition Popular Party, which leads most opinion polls, accused the government of failing to replace an obsolete safety system when it should have done so.
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