The discovery of a crack on the Madrid-Barcelona line follows two recent deadly crashes in the country.
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Transport Minister Óscar Puente said a crack had been found on Sunday night in the line 110km (68 miles) west of Barcelona, between Alcover and l'Espluga de Francolí, in the Catalonia region.
It comes days after a high-speed collision killed 45 people in southern Spain and amid severe disruption to local rail services in the north-east of the country.
The transport ministry said the fault in the line did not pose a danger to trains travelling along it and that they would continue to move along it.
This is the latest and most drastic of several speed reductions on high-speed lines in recent days, following the accident in Adamuz, in Andalusia, earlier this month.
The speed limit on the section of track affected will be 80km/h (50mph) until further notice. High-speed trains travel as fast as 300km/h between Madrid and Barcelona - one of Spain's most heavily used long-distance links.
Last week, the limit on several sections of the Madrid-Barcelona line was temporarily reduced to 230 km/h after drivers had reported vibrations or other anomalies on the route, before being restored to 300km/h following technical checks.
Some sections of the Madrid-Valencia line also had their speed limit cut temporarily to 160km/h and 200km/h.
Watch: At the scene of Spain's worst rail disaster in over a decadeMeanwhile, the local Rodalies rail service in Catalonia has been severely disrupted.
Last week, a trainee driver was killed when a train struck a collapsed wall, the Rodalies service was grounded as drivers demanded improved safety guarantees and lines were reviewed.
On Monday, two separate incidents caused further chaos in the region, as the service was again suspended, before partially resuming later in the day. The Spanish government said it did not know the cause of the incidents - but did not rule out a cyberattack.
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