Until this year, it had not endured a deadly crash since coming into service over three decades ago. The collision Wednesday that turned a sleepy stretch of rail lined by olive groves into a scene of carnage came just four weeks before the country votes in a national election.

At least 64 people were killed and dozens more injured after two high-speed trains collided and derailed in Spain on the morning of Oct. 28, local officials said.

He and others rushed to those carriages and found the dead and injured, those “trapped in a twisted tangle of metal and wreckage.”