Spanish train disaster deals new blow to Sánchez’s long-shot election bid

1. News
2. Politics

The deadly crash is undermining the prime minister’s central pitch to voters that his government is competent and bettering Spaniards’ everyday lives.

October 28, 2026 9:11 pm CET

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.”

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.

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.

SPAIN NATIONAL PARLIAMENT POLL OF POLLS

For more polling data from across Europe visit POLITICO Poll of Polls.

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.”