Audio recordings released by Spanish media reveal exchanges between train operators and drivers minutes before a deadly crash near Urda on Wednesday that killed 69 people.
The recordings show a control centre operator instructing the driver of a Renfe train to proceed at normal speed using a backup signalling system, even though an Iryo train had stalled on the track about 25km ahead. Spain's transport minister Óscar Puente said the decision to instruct trains to move without speed restrictions was "inexplicable" and called it an "error".
In one recording, the Renfe driver asks the controller "At normal speed?" and the controller responds "Yes." A separate recording captures the stationary Iryo train's driver telling the control centre the train cannot move because it will not allow him to control the security system. A later recording suggests the controller had been notified the Iryo train remained stationary as the Renfe train approached.
The crash occurred when the Renfe train, carrying 397 passengers, struck the stationary Iryo train, which was carrying 147 passengers. A reported computer failure in the automatic signalling system had forced all trains to halt on the affected stretch.
Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visited injured passengers in a hospital in Toledo on Thursday. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said authorities would "get to the bottom of every last detail of this tragedy" and pledged the investigation would determine what measures would prevent such crashes in future. Spain began three days of national mourning on Thursday.
The crash ranks as one of the worst rail disasters in Europe's modern history and Spain's worst since 2013. Around 1,500 people gathered outside the Spanish transport ministry building in Madrid on Wednesday night, with some calling for the resignations of Sánchez and Puente. Police used tear gas to disperse crowds after protesters hurled bottles and flares.