At least 46 people have been killed after a high-speed passenger train rear-ended another near Toledo, Spain, on Wednesday morning. The collision caused a derailment.

Sources at the Ministry of Transport consulted by ABC say the accident in Urda, Toledo, was caused by human error. A worker from the public company, who was repairing a fault in the main signalling system, is believed to have failed to warn the AVE high-speed train that an Iryo train was approaching.

"A human error by an [state-owned railway infrastructure company] Adif operator in response to a malfunction in the main signalling system is the likely cause of the accident," government sources told Spanish newspaper El Pais.

The safety system runs automatically but switches to manual control when it fails. Early analysis says the trains stopped when it failed. The safety system is automated, but it switches to manual mode when it fails. According to initial analyses, that is why the trains came to a stop when the automatic safety system broke down. Service then resumed under human control, and that is where the error is believed to have occurred.

Adif, Spain's rail authority, said the trains involved were a "Renfe train and another from the Iryo company, both covering the Madrid-Sevilla route."

"The incident occurred between Mora and Orgaz and Urda," Adif said.

Local news outlets reported that 397 passengers were aboard the Renfe train and about 150 aboard the Iryo train. Renfe, the national rail provider, said high-speed service from Madrid to the southern region of Andalusia was suspended.

Spanish news reports carried accounts from passengers who were in the crash. They described an awful impact that threw people from the dining car, broke limbs and left passengers piled on top of one another.

Source: ndtv