The release of recordings from conversations between the Regulation and Control Center of Adif in Atocha and the drivers of the two trains involved in the accident in Urda (Toledo) marks the most significant update this Wednesday regarding the railway tragedy that has left, according to the provisional report from 112 Castilla-La Mancha updated around 16:00 Spanish time, 68 bodies recovered and 77 injured with varying degrees of severity.
Both Cadena SER and elDiario.es published the transcriptions of those conversations starting at 9:00 PM Spanish time, without any independent authentication of the recordings having taken place so far.
According to those transcripts, at 08:31 the driver of the Renfe AVE (train 2080) called Atocha to report a failure in the LZB safety system, which had fallen due to an issue at the Urda control center, leaving the train at "zero point," meaning stopped.
After several minutes of confusing conversation—during which the operator consulted colleagues and provided contradictory instructions about disconnecting and reconnecting the system—at 08:36, the control center issued the order, which, according to sources consulted by both media, went against protocol: "Train driver 2080, disconnect and reconnect the LZB and resume travel under the BSL at normal speed."
The protocol required in that situation to indicate "stop ahead," which limits the speed to a maximum of 40 kilometers per hour.
At the same time, the driver of the Iryo (train 6076) contacted Atocha at 08:41 to report that she had "a transmission loss with a target speed of 40" and that she was "stopped at the entry signal of Urda."
The center gave the same instruction: disconnect and reconnect the LZB and resume with "normal operation."
However, at 08:48, according to the investigation by elDiario.es, the train driver called again to explain that she could not check the system and that was why she remained stopped at the entry signal.
The operator replied that he should continue when he could and to call if he had any problems.
Six minutes later, at 08:54, the AVE —which had traveled about 20 to 26 kilometers since receiving authorization, possibly at speeds of up to 200 km/h— collided with the motionless Iryo.
The transcriptions reveal that the control center knew that the Iryo was still stopped on the track when the AVE was already approaching it, without any record of alerting the Renfe train driver about the situation.
Regarding the balance of victims, the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, specified that four of the 68 bodies were still trapped among the wreckage of the cars and warned that the death toll could rise as the cars are moved.
Sources from 112 cited by Europa Press and reported by infoCLM at 19:57 Spanish time report that 107 injured individuals have been admitted to hospitals in the region; this figure, which is indirectly attributed, does not match the official report of 77 as it measures a different moment and uses different criteria.
García-Page reported that there were 15 injured individuals classified as "code red," of which four were in particularly serious condition, and noted that all the hospitalized patients had been identified.
The Minister of Transportation, Óscar Puente, had described the decision to authorize the operation of the AVE as "unexplainable" and acknowledged that actions were taken "against the regulations."
The Civil Guard interrogated on Wednesday the operator at the Atocha CRC who authorized the train's departure, as well as the other workers on duty.
The judicial investigation was taken over by the Orgaz Court of First Instance, and the Railway Accident Investigation Commission (CIAF) is also examining the technical causes; neither of them has issued definitive conclusions regarding responsibilities.
This disaster is the second major accident in the Spanish high-speed network in less than a year, following the one that occurred on January 18, 2026, in Adamuz (Córdoba), which resulted in 46 fatalities.
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