Spain’s deadly train crashes have damaged public confidence in the system

Pedro Sánchez and his socialist-led coalition government are racing to rebuild trust ahead of a snap election, but the task they face is immense • Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here A week ago today, for the second time in nine months, I got in my car and drove south from Madrid to cover a deadly train crash. At 8.53am last Wednesday, a high-speed train operated by Spain’s state-owned rail company, Renfe, smashed into the back of a stationary train run by the private rail company Iryo, on the outskirts of the small town of Urda in Castilla-La Mancha. Sixty-nine people died in the accident , more than 100 were injured, and Spain’s already depleted confidence in its treasured rail network plummeted. Continue reading...

西班牙九個月內發生兩起高鐵致命事故，共造成115人死亡，公眾對高鐵安全性的信任嚴重受損。事故正值大選前夕，交通部長引咎辭職，各政黨圍繞責任歸屬展開激烈攻防，遇難者與幸存者的善後仍在繼續。