Xi offers condolences to Spanish king

President Xi Jinping on Thursday sent a message of condolence to Spanish King Felipe VI over the deadly high-speed train collision in the Spanish province of Toledo.

Spain has begun three days of national mourning for victims of Wednesday's train crash south of the capital Madrid, which left at least 69 people dead and injured scores.

In the message, Xi expressed deep condolences for the victims and sincere sympathies to the bereaved families on behalf of the Chinese government and people upon learning that the accident caused heavy casualties.

He also wished those injured in the tragic crash a speedy recovery.

Also on Thursday, Premier Li Qiang sent a message of condolence to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Sanchez spoke of "lives shattered, families broken" in the country's second major fatal train crash this year, adding that "the whole of Spain is in mourning".

The crash happened early in the morning, when an express train run by the state-operated Renfe company, traveling to Seville, collided with a stationary train operated by private company Iryo. Local government officials reported that there were 397 people on board the Renfe service, and 147 on the Iryo train.

According to Transport Minister Oscar Puente, a computer failure shortly before the collision saw six trains halted, including the two that later collided.

Iryo and state-owned infrastructure operator Adif have not yet replied to requests for comment, but a statement from Renfe said its train "continued on its way as instructed, and a collision occurred". "The exact sequence of events, the traffic conditions and the circumstances of the impact will have to be established by the investigation," it added.

The decision to restart services after the computer failure — without any speed limits — was taken by a control center, and Puente said this was made "under inexplicable circumstances".

An inquiry is currently ongoing into a previous high-speed collision in January in the southern region of Andalusia, involving the same companies and the same railway line, which left 46 people dead. The latest incident has occurred during the buildup to a snap general election called by Sanchez for Nov 29.

"If we need to further strengthen safety in order to rebuild confidence in our high-speed rail system, we will do so, because what is unacceptable for a country like Spain is to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in the same year," Sanchez said in a televised address from near the site of Wednesday's crash.

Data from the European Commission show that in recent years, Spain has spent more on its high-speed train network than any other country in Europe, but this was predominantly on new construction, with less than 20 percent of the budget being for repairs and maintenance.

The France 24 news website quoted figures from Spain's railway safety authority showing that accidents, including derailments and collisions, had risen from 45 in 2016 to 69 in 2025.

Iryo is an Italian-owned company that only began operating in Spain in 2022 as part of an opening-up of service competition.

Joan Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Spanish train workers' union, told television channel TVE that increased demand had not been matched by infrastructure maintenance.

"We are not convinced that the liberalization of the high-speed passenger rail service was matched by the necessary upkeep of the lines," he said.

"I am not saying it was a determining factor (in the crashes), but yes, the increase in use of the network is a factor to keep in mind."

Xinhua contributed to this story.