Spain's Transport Minister Blames Traffic Control Errors for Deadly High-Speed Train Crash

Spain's transport minister said traffic control errors caused a deadly high-speed train crash, and a judge will investigate the controllers' actions. Those actions include authorizing one train to proceed at high speed even though another train was stalled on the track in front of it, the minister said.

The collision is the second devastating crash involving Spanish high-speed trains in nine months. Together the two collisions killed more than 100 people. For decades Spaniards have been avid users of the country's high-speed trains, known as the Ave, Spanish for "bird," and have chosen them over driving or flying for work trips and holidays each year. The crashes have shaken that confidence in the service.

Newsmax, the right-leaning outlet, runs a feature on riding a Spanish high-speed train in the aftermath of what its headline calls the system's latest catastrophe. It opens with the decades-long popularity of the Ave, then turns to the two collisions in nine months and the more than 100 deaths. In the available excerpt it does not mention the transport minister, the traffic controllers or the judge, and it frames the story around the whole rail system's record and its passengers. The New York Times, the left-leaning outlet, leads with the official's account of the cause. Its headline attributes the finding to an official, and it highlights the planned judicial inquiry and the detail of the stalled train ahead. Both treat the crash as a grave blow to Spanish rail. Newsmax emphasizes the repeated disasters and public trust, while the Times emphasizes who erred and how accountability will be pursued. The AP's version matches the Newsmax text.