{"id":26966,"date":"2026-10-31T05:23:01","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T05:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/31\/on-board-a-spanish-high-speed-train-in-the-aftermath-of-the-systems-latest-catastrophe-wsls\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T05:23:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T05:23:01","slug":"on-board-a-spanish-high-speed-train-in-the-aftermath-of-the-systems-latest-catastrophe-wsls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/31\/on-board-a-spanish-high-speed-train-in-the-aftermath-of-the-systems-latest-catastrophe-wsls\/","title":{"rendered":"On board a Spanish high-speed train in the aftermath of the system&#039;s latest catastrophe &#8211; WSLS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mar\u00eda Gestoso And Joseph Wilson<br \/>Associated Press<br \/>Published:\u00a0<time datetime=\"2026-10-31T05:06:07.000Z\">October 31, 2026 at 1:06 AM<\/time><br \/>Mar\u00eda Gestoso And Joseph Wilson<br \/>Associated Press<br \/>Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.<br \/>Passengers head to board their trains at Atocha railway station in Madrid, Spain, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP Photo\/Maria Gestoso) Photo taken with a smartphone.<br \/><strong>ZAMORA<\/strong> \u2013 For decades, Spaniards have been avid users of the country\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/spain-train-crash-high-speed-rail-c22bd9d81dfa78bb1a2c7e41514bb8e3\">touted high-speed trains<\/a>, choosing the Ave, Spanish for \u201cbird,\u201d over driving or flying for work trips or holidays each year.<br \/>But two devastating collisions in nine months that killed more than 100 people have shaken confidence in a rail network long hailed for its speed and safety.<br \/>Recommended Videos<br \/>Two days after a <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/train-accident-spain-4f65471a0e36f448d7ee9efe0768cd77\">train collision in central Spain<\/a> killed 69 people and stunned the nation with <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/photo-gallery\/photos-show-aftermath-deadly-high-speed-train-collision-spain-897aba261c6b4bff8e831d0b7aa7f7dd\">horrific images<\/a> of shredded carriages and bloodied survivors, an Associated Press journalist spoke to travelers who had decided to keep traveling by train.<br \/>\u201cI have to travel for work and am taking the train because I don\u2019t have another option, but I have colleagues who are going by car and won\u2019t take another train until something really changes,\u201d Carla Fuentes, a 37-year-old economist, said before boarding in Madrid for Alicante, in southern Spain.<br \/>Fuentes&#8217; train was canceled on Thursday due to a <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/spain-train-crash-toledo-causes-unions-669ef8c0c12c8c9b720e721e7532ccbb\">strike by train workers<\/a> to demand improved rail safety.<br \/>\u201cIt is understandable,\u201d she said about the strike. \u201cMany lives were lost and there are a lot of people who are angry.\u201d<br \/>The catastrophe was <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/spain-train-crash-missing-families-0ea8662ec1b97aa07714c2ddecbd43bf\">impossible to forget<\/a> once aboard the train from Madrid to Zamora on Friday, even if most of the passengers were philosophical about whizzing along at 300 kph (186 mph).<br \/>Once the train started after a 50-minute delay, the train conductor made an announcement to thank those who had stuck with the Ave.<br \/>\u201cI only have words of thanks for your patience and admiration for your decision to continue traveling by train at this time,\u201d he told the passengers.<br \/>Authorities admit trust in the railways is shattered<br \/>Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez, who <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/spain-train-crash-election-sanchez-aeb1c22ee6ddfe3733f3371bbf39ed0e\">faces an election<\/a> in four weeks, acknowledged Friday at the crash site that authorities must work hard to restore the reputation of the rail service.<br \/>\u201cTrust in our high-speed railway has been broken, and the job of this government is to not only understand what went wrong but to offer the solutions so that a tragedy of this magnitude never happens again,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said.<br \/>The crash in the province of Toledo came just nine months after another collision further south on the same Madrid-Seville line killed 49 people when one train jumped the track and slammed into another coming from the opposite direction.<br \/>\u201cI have spent a long time traveling in high-speed trains, but now my confidence has been hurt a bit,\u201d 56-year-old traveler Mar\u00eda Rodr\u00edguez said on the train to Zamora. \u201cTwo accidents in one year, with a lot of casualties. That is serious.\u201d<br \/>The train rules in Spain<br \/>High-speed trains have transformed Spain, sharply reducing commutes between Madrid in central Spain and major cities, many of them located on the coast.<br \/>Since opening its first high-speed line in 1992, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/spain\">Spain<\/a> has laid 3,900 kilometers (2,400 miles) of high-speed track for its 49 million residents. Only China \u2014 with 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles) for its 1.4 billion people \u2014 has more high-speed track, according to the International Union of Railways. The union defines high-speed trains as those traveling at more than 250 kph (155 mph).<br \/>It is now the most common mode of travel for both business and pleasure.<br \/>Nine million of the 13 million trips made between Madrid and Barcelona in 2024 were made by high-speed rail, according to the Spanish National Markets and Competition Commission. Rail travel is growing: The number of high-speed train passengers in Spain doubled between 2019 and 2025.<br \/>On an old, slow train, the 600-kilometer (385-mile) journey between Madrid and Barcelona used to take around seven hours, meaning many business travelers opted to take a plane. Now that trip can be done in 2 \u00bd hours.<br \/>Shorter travel times have made day trips between many Spanish cities possible.<br \/>But Spain\u2019s enormous investment in building high-speed rail has come at the expense of slower commuter services, while train workers&#8217; unions argue that the administration has not spent enough on maintaining the network.<br \/>Adri\u00e1n Blaya, a 29-year-old data analyst traveling on the Zamora-Madrid line, echoed the common complaint that the service has worsened in recent years with delays and breakdowns becoming habitual.<br \/>Ironically, he felt safer than usual following the deadly crash.<br \/>\u201cThe safest time to travel in Ave is after a tragedy because this is when they are extra careful,\u201d he said. \u201cToday I feel safer traveling because I know they will be focused.&#8221;<br \/>___<br \/>Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.<br \/>Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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All rights reserved.Passengers head to board their trains at Atocha railway station in Madrid, Spain, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP Photo\/Maria Gestoso) Photo taken with a smartphone.ZAMORA \u2013 For decades, Spaniards have been avid users [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}