Two high-speed trains collide near Toledo, Spain

This is just 2.5 years after the same thing happened in Greece, killing 57:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempi_train_crash

  "The disaster occurred after years of multiple warnings from the train drivers' official union, while the current government was passing legislation that would make drivers' ability to strike or take industrial action for safety concerns unlawful."

  "Three weeks before the crash, the rail workers' union had raised concerns over problems with the administration of the rail network which could put the passengers in danger."

https://elpais.com/espana/2026-10-28/ultima-hora-del-choque-...

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/28/spain-high-speed-train-crash...

https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2026/10/28/toledo-tr...

https://www.reuters.com/live/spain-train-crash-live-deaths-i...

It's become a real risk to take a train in Spain. Two severe accidents in the same year on what's typically considered the safest transport method.

I can't remember the last time I read good news related to my country.

Some days ago I actually traveled on these high speed trains to Madrid (the same route Madrid - Seville). I paid extra to be able to select a middle car seat because of similar disaster that happened in Spain only in January this year:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Adamuz_rail_disaster

How come we have collision avoidance mandated and working in 3 and 2 dimensions (TCAS, AEB), but somehow do not have it in 1-dimensional motion?

Already posted 3 hours ago:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50271032

I always thought there is a system of rail signals which should prevent accidents like this always in place, like dividing railroad into sections, turn on red light if the next section is occupied, yellow before that and so on...

Did it fail somehow which lead to this accident? I think such systems must be redundant enough to survive even without power/computers?

When LZB drops out, does the fallback to ASFA plus verbal authorization actually enforce block separation, or is it basically just driver discipline at 300 km/h?

How is it that Waymo can safely operate a car on public streets but accidents like this are still possible?

East Asia: top-tier infrastructure, well maintained Europe: second-best-tier infrastructure, rapidly decaying and overwhelmed USA: Third World-equivalent infrastructure

> El Mundo is reporting that the Iryo train flagged a failure in its LZB signalling system 10 minutes before the crash, but the train behind did not receive the information due to a potential human error.

> Investigators believe the AVE high-speed train travelling behind crashed into the stationary Iryo service.

> A human error by an [state-owned railway infrastructure company] Adif operator in response to a malfunction in the main signaling system is the likely cause of the accident, government sources said. This safety system is automated, but when it fails, it switches to manual mode. That is why the trains came to a stop when the automatic safety system failed, and service resumed under human control - and that is where the error occurred, according to initial analyses.

https://www.elmundo.es/economia/2026/10/28/6ae1c9a1e9cf4a372...

Why are high speed trains often crashing in Europe??

You rarely hear of such in Japan.

A high-speed train collided with a stationary train. The title is misleading.

A simple solution would be for all trains to have self recoding GPS which they probably all have and log their location on an internet map plus marking all the switches and allow open viewing to public and passengers to monitor their own train versus others. Ai can also be used to set the alarm.

10 deaths at last count. Amazing it's not 100% dead.

There are all kinds of isolated systems that trigger warnings but the thing that seems to be missing everywhere is a centralized simulation with all the data in it. Or perhaps a series of simulations each slightly further in the future. If any variable changes run it again until it reaches its time stamp.

For example, it shouldn't be possible in 2026 for a vehicle to get stuck on the crossing (with cameras) without the train driver getting a notification. You can even power down an entire track if it's obstructed. You might not want self driving, self breaking seems quite desirable.

Massive disaster!

I still wonder how this adds up against the constant daily carnage of automobile transportation?

This is a very unfortunate event,

On another topic, I shall reconsider using bus over train for my trips.

How is this even possible in this day and age. It can be all automated, double and quad checked enroute ..

[dupe] Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50271032

Atlas Shrugged in real life

The incompetence in the world that is likely the underlying cause for this, is a serious cancer that is ruining our society. We need to speak out even against what seems like lesser issues, because we normalize that behaviour until it perverts everything.

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One high-speed train, one stationary train collide near Toledo, Spain. Unlike in physics class this sadly did not result in two average speed trains.