Spain Train Crash: Killed AVE Driver Had Warned About Rail Problems

The driver of the AVE is among the dead after two high-speed trains collided near Urda, in Toledo province in central Spain. The left-wing party Izquierda Española confirmed the death of Antonio A., 36, who was a party member. The broadcaster Telecinco reported this on Thursday, October 29. According to the report, the driver is one of 69 confirmed fatalities.

Control center ordered normal continuation

AVE 2080 was traveling at 200 kilometers per hour when it collided with the Iryo 6076 train. The Iryo train was trying to start moving again at the time. When the Iryo came to a stop is disputed: according to Telecinco, the government gives the time as 8:53 a.m., while sources close to Iryo say 8:48 a.m.

Radio recordings capture the high-speed control center at Madrid's Puerta de Atocha station telling the driver: "Continue normally." He then drove 25 kilometers at high speed instead of proceeding on sight, which would have allowed him to stop in time. The recordings were leaked to the state broadcaster RTVE on Wednesday, October 28, after Minister Puente had pointed to an "employee" of the control center.

The driver reportedly still tried to brake. The investigation must establish exactly what happened. According to the drivers' union Semaf, the trainee who was in the cab with him also probably died; media name David Cabañas as a fatality. The Iryo driver survived. Semaf, the drivers' union to which both belonged, said she is still in shock but calm, because she knows she did everything right.

Colleagues and friends recall warnings

The driver came from Móstoles near Madrid and had lived in Barcelona for many years. According to Semaf, he was the son of a train driver and the grandson of an electrician at the state railway Renfe. In the union he was known as "the boy from Atocha". He first trained as a photographer and became a train driver in 2012.

The lawyer Paula Fraga, who knew him from the party, said: "He was very worried about what he saw in his work, at times frightened." She said he was one of the first to protest against the deterioration of his working conditions, even before the accident in Adamuz in Andalusia. "He said that if nothing changes, we are doomed to repeat it. And now it has hit him of all people."

The newspaper El Mundo published a post about the driver on X.

According to Telecinco, friends such as Fraga and Guillermo del Valle criticized the publication of the radio recordings.