European Union demands urgent rail safety upgrades in Spain

The European Union has called on Spanish authorities to immediately implement the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) to prevent further railway tragedies. European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, described the frequency of recent accidents in Spain as “very concerning,” noting that two incidents in nine months resulted in 115 fatalities.

The Commission specifically highlighted deficiencies in the Madrid-Sevilla corridor, which has continued to operate under the older German LZB system instead of current community standards. This technical gap was linked to the Urda accident in Toledo, where a Renfe train traveling at 200 km/h collided with a stationary Iryo train following a safety system failure.

Unlike older Class B systems, ERTMS is a unified digital standard that provides continuous supervision and can automatically brake trains if they exceed speed limits or disobey signals. While the deployment of ERTMS has facilitated the liberalization of the Spanish rail market by enabling interoperability, its application in the Southern Corridor remains only partial. EU regulations require all trunk routes to adopt this technology by 2030, with full network coverage expected by 2050.