Spanish
train disaster deals new blow to Sánchez’s long-shot election bid
The
deadly crash is undermining the prime minister’s central pitch to voters that
his government is competent and bettering Spaniards’ everyday lives.
Pedro
Sánchez, the Prime Minister of Spain near the scene of a train crash on October
28, 2026 near Los Yebenes. | Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images
October 28,
2026 9:11 pm CET
By Aitor
Hernández-Morales, Rafael
Méndez and Ángel
Villarino Perez
MADRID — A deadly
train crash near the Spanish city of Toledo has prompted fresh questions
about Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's management of public infrastructure weeks
ahead of a snap election.
The cause of
Wednesday's incident, in which at least 68 people were killed, has not yet been
determined. But the disaster comes less than a year after another
mass-casualty crash near the southern Spanish town of Adamuz. That
catastrophe was attributed to poor maintenance, and it heightened scrutiny of
Spain’s rail network and the left-wing government’s overall stewardship of
public services.
In recent
weeks, Socialist leader Sánchez had appeared to gain ground on the conservative People’s Party leader
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, playing up his own charisma while centering his campaign
on housing and other social issues ahead of the Nov. 29 vote. But Wednesday's
smash has dented that perceived momentum by shifting attention to Sánchez’s
record on public services and crisis management — and undermining his pitch
that the current government is improving ordinary Spaniards’ lives.
“Spain has the right to know what is
happening with its infrastructure,” Feijóo said Wednesday, insisting the crash
required “an immediate government investigation, as well as a judicial one,
with all available resources and without interference."
The
right-wing opposition, which polls suggest
could secure a parliamentary majority and take power after the election, has
responded to the tragedy in different ways.
While Feijóo
initially urged “prudence and respect,” the PP signaled a more confrontational
approach later Wednesday, posting a tweet that read: “ENOUGH
IS ENOUGH.”
A truck crane is operated at the site of a train crash
between two high-speed units, a Renfe AVE train and an Iryo train around 150 km
south of Madrid between Urda and Los Yebenes on October 28, 2026. | Javier
Soriano/AFP via Getty Images
The
far-right Vox party immediately went on the attack, pledging to hold
the government legally accountable for the crash and blaming it for the
“degradation of infrastructure and institutions.”
The
contrasting responses hint at how the two parties could seek to turn the
disaster into a broader indictment of Sánchez’s government, with the PP using
restraint to appeal to centrist voters while Vox courts far-right electors by
explicitly attacking the administration. Both parties have left open the
possibility of governing together if the election results make it necessary.
A Socialist
lawmaker, granted anonymity to speak freely, told POLITICO the crash
“inevitably upends the campaign and deals a blow to Sánchez.”
“It changes
the conversation, and naturally the opposition will use it, just as they used
the Adamuz accident,” the lawmaker added.
National
pride, public mistrust
Wednesday’s
crash is likely to intensify scrutiny on the government, as questions over
safety, reliability and public investment threaten to undermine confidence in a
network long celebrated as a symbol of Spain’s technological transformation.
When
high-speed rail arrived in Spain in 1992, it reshaped how Spaniards “see
themselves … A powerful symbol that Spain was growing, integrating into Europe,
with modern technology,” said Ramón González Férriz, a Spanish journalist and
analyst who has written about the railway’s place in the country’s national
identity.
Emergency services and investigators work on the site of a
high-speed trains collision that killed at least 42 people, in Adamuz, southern
Spain, on January 20, 2026. | Jorge Guerrero/AFP via Getty Images
But by 2015,
the picture had begun to change. “Even though the economy started growing
again, investment in transport infrastructure stopped being a priority,” he
said.
González
Férriz said the deterioration of the rail network mirrored “a similar decline
of other things that used to work well in Spain,” including “the electricity
grid — Spain suffered a national
blackout in April 2025 — or the health system.”
After the
Adamuz disaster in January, Sánchez pledged to “restore confidence” in the
network. But polls suggest faith in Spain’s railways remains shaken, and that the tragedy has helped
undermine Spaniard's long-held belief that, even amid political turmoil, the
country’s public services keep functioning.
“This
accident shows that, if that was ever true, it no longer is,” González Férriz
said. “When governments neglect things, what often follows is a decline in
quality, and sometimes even a tragedy.”
Spain’s
conservative opposition has been quick to seize on the discontent, with
Feijóo’s PP condemning what it calls the “progressive deterioration” of Spain’s railway system
and blaming the government.
Transport
Minister Óscar Puente on Wednesday said initial findings suggested that an
official at the national railway control center in Madrid had “inexplicably”
instructed one high-speed train to proceed along a track where another had
stalled.
Speaking
from the crash site, Sánchez said it was “unacceptable for a country like Spain
to suffer two high-speed rail accidents in the same year” and vowed to “act
decisively” if the collision is shown to have resulted from “failures in the
system.”
State
railway company Renfe on Wednesday evening suspended ticket sales on the
Madrid-Andalusia high-speed corridor through December, highlighting the scale
of disruption to a vital link between the capital and southern Spain, used by
millions of passengers each year.
From
momentum to damage control
Wednesday's
tragedy arrives at a precarious moment for Sánchez, whose chances of remaining
in power were already constrained by the collapse
of a far-left faction he would need to build a governing majority.
In recent
weeks, the Socialist leader appeared to be gaining ground against conservative
rival Feijóo.
The PP
leader had unsettled centrist voters by embracing the prospect of governing
alongside far-right Vox and backing changes to abortion laws and other social
policies. He was also forced to reassure pensioners, a crucial voting bloc,
after party members questioned the sustainability of the welfare system.
Sánchez,
meanwhile, had steered the campaign toward more favorable terrain, focusing on
housing and other social issues while contrasting himself against Feijóo’s dour
persona. Even critics began suggesting his party could finish first in the
popular vote, though without enough seats to govern alone.
But the
crash effectively reset the contest.
“The
campaign was going really well," a second Socialist lawmaker told
POLITICO. "This is the black swan we didn’t see coming.”
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