European Public Prosecutor’s Office fraud investigation into Spanish rail safety funds after Toledo collision, Digi Mart USA News (Toledo province, Spain): The European Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a new investigation on Friday, November 6, into possible fraud in the use of European Union funds intended to improve rail safety systems in Spain. The probe follows a collision between two high-speed trains that killed 69 people in the province of Toledo.
According to the office, the inquiry focuses on funds allocated to renewing the safety, signaling and communications systems on the Madrid-Seville line, where the tragedy occurred on October 28 near the town of Urda. The investigation is supported by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, whose agents visited the offices of the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF), the State Railway Safety Agency (AESF) and the Court of Audit to collect documentation.
Authorities are seeking to determine whether there were irregularities in the management of European funds used to modernize rail infrastructure, particularly the systems responsible for monitoring and ensuring the safe movement of trains. Opening a fraud investigation does not mean that a diversion of resources has been proven or that it caused the accident.
So far, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has not reported any individuals charged in connection with the new inquiry.
On October 28, a Renfe high-speed train collided with an Iryo train that was stopped near Urda, in Toledo. The crash left 69 people dead and more than 100 hospitalized.
Initial investigations identified a computer failure that took the LZB system out of service. That technology monitors train speed and movement, and after the failure, operators had to rely on alternative safety mechanisms.
Former Transport Minister Óscar Puente previously said that an erroneous decision may have allowed one of the trains to resume movement while the other remained stopped. However, technical investigations are ongoing, and not all causes of the accident have been established.
This is the second investigation the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened into the use of EU funds on the Madrid-Seville line in 2026. The first began in March, after a January 18 rail accident in Adamuz, Córdoba, that killed 46 people.
