Urda crash: aid and price cap on alternative transport come into force

Royal Decree-law 32/2026, of 3 November, on aid for the victims of the Urda (Toledo) rail crash, was published on Wednesday in the Official State Gazette and came into force the same day, according to EFE and Laboral Social. In addition to the 30 million in direct aid and advance compensation payments approved on Tuesday, the law caps the prices of transport alternatives to the train while the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed line remains closed, as well as those of accommodation linked to those journeys, according to the La Moncloa press release. According to EFE, the Government maintains that those fares had risen 8 or 9 times over after the crash.

According to La Moncloa, the cap consists of setting as the maximum price that of an earlier reference period. Civio explains that, as a general rule, no price higher than the maximum of the previous 30 days will be allowed, and that the mechanism applies to services affected by the crash from Wednesday until 10 November, and can be extended. The sources do not fully agree on its scope: Civio indicates that the measure will not apply to the transport sector until the European Commission authorises it, without clarifying how this affects this case, while La Moncloa and EFE present it as a limit on transport alternatives to the train.

Victims will have three months to apply for the aid from the publication of the resolution setting out the procedure, according to Laboral Social. La Moncloa adds that Comprehensive Assistance Offices are being set up in the Government delegations and sub-delegations to process the applications, and that those unable to travel may be attended at home. According to Civio, Renfe and Iryo must hand over the list of passengers and the deceased to the Social Security system within 15 days.

The collision between a Renfe AVE and an Iryo train on 28 October caused 69 deaths, all of them now identified, according to the official toll reported by Castilla-La Mancha Media. In Castilla-La Mancha hospitals, 22 people remain admitted, four of them in intensive care, according to regional government data from 08:30 on Wednesday reported by EFE. The causes remain under investigation.