Sixty-nine candles in Toledo: Spain buries its rail dead with the king present and the prime minister absent

Spain mourned the 69 people killed in its worst rail disaster in more than a decade at a state funeral in Toledo Cathedral on Tuesday, local time, almost two weeks after a high-speed train slammed into the back of another near the town of Urda.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia sat near the families in the 13th-century cathedral. People from Urda lit 69 candles by the altar, and a 16th-century sculpture of Christ was brought from the town for the service. The Archbishop of Toledo, Francisco Cerro Chaves, who led the Mass, called for the causes of the crash to be made clear and for responsibility to be taken.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was not there. He cited his refusal to attend religious ceremonies. His opponents said he was dodging an angry public in the middle of an election campaign. Spain votes on 29 November.

What happened at Urda?

On the morning of 28 October, a computerised signalling system on the Madrid-Seville high-speed line failed, stopping trains on a long stretch of track south of Madrid. A Renfe AVE train was then cleared by rail controllers to move on and ran into the rear of a stationary Iryo service near Urda, in Toledo province, about 140 kilometres south of Madrid. Carriages derailed and passengers were trapped.

Sixty-nine people died and about 200 were injured. The then transport minister, Óscar Puente, called the order allowing the second train to proceed “inexplicable”. Government sources have pointed to human error in the manual handling of signalling after the automatic system failed. Spain’s independent rail accident investigation authority is investigating, and no final finding has been made.

Who were the Australians?

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed early this month that two Australians were among the dead and said it was giving consular help to their families. Their names have not been made public.

Why is this politically explosive?

Because it has happened before, on the same line, this year. A derailment near Adamuz in January killed more than 40 people. Two fatal crashes in ten months on the country’s flagship high-speed route have turned rail safety into an election issue.

Mr Puente resigned on 3 November, calling it a matter of “political dignity”. The president of rail infrastructure operator ADIF, Luis Pedro Marco, quit the next day. Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo is covering transport until the election.

On 6 November the European Public Prosecutor’s Office carried out investigative measures at ADIF, Spain’s rail safety agency and its court of auditors, looking at possible fraud involving EU funds meant for safety, signalling and communications upgrades on the Madrid-Seville line. The EU’s transport commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, called the closeness of the two crashes “very worrying”, and Spain has asked the European Union Agency for Railways for help.

How bad is this by Spain’s standards?

Only one modern Spanish rail crash has killed more: the 2013 derailment at Angrois, near Santiago de Compostela, which killed 79. Spain has the largest high-speed rail network in Europe, and the Madrid-Seville line, opened in 1992, was its first. Australians travelling between Madrid, Córdoba and Seville ride it.

Rail workers added to the pressure this week, with a train drivers’ strike disrupting services on the day of the funeral.