Spain's transport minister Puente resigns over deadly train crash

Spain’s transport minister, Oscar Puente, has resigned over last week’s deadly train crash, the country’s second this year, saying a minister cannot stay in office after two accidents of this severity in under a year, The Express Tribune reported, citing Reuters.

“Cannot continue in office”

Puente told members of the Permanent Deputation, the standing committee that sits while parliament is dissolved, that “a transport minister in a country like Spain cannot continue in office with two accidents of this severity in less than a year”. He announced the resignation hours after laying out the government’s emergency aid package for victims and new safety measures. The crash happened on October 28 near the town of Urda in central Spain and killed 69 people, according to Reuters. Our report on the crash on the day gave an earlier toll of 68.

Puente had earlier ruled out resigning. He said he decided to go within minutes of learning of the crash but chose to stay until the emergency response was under way, preliminary investigations had begun and the first compensation and safety measures were in place. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez thanked him on X, saying he had put victims first and acted from “a sense of political responsibility”. The departure comes less than four weeks before an early parliamentary election that Sanchez called for November 29.

What went wrong, according to Puente

Several trains were stopped automatically last Wednesday when a signalling system on the Madrid-Seville line failed, after which central controllers in Madrid took over. According to Puente, the controllers authorised a train run by the state-owned Renfe to proceed even though a privately operated Iryo train was stationary ahead. Investigators estimate the impact speed at 160 to 200 kph. In January, another accident on the same line involving the same companies killed 46 people. These are the minister’s own account of events; the formal investigation has not reported.

The new measures

• a speed limit of 40 kph when trains must rely on the driver to spot obstacles after a signal failure;
• more staff, and better working conditions in rail control centres;
• double the compulsory passenger insurance payouts for crash victims, faster compensation and better cover for temporary incapacity; and
• an artificial intelligence agent to “detect anomalies and monitor conversations” between drivers and controllers, which Puente said would be a world first, plus a real-time digital model of the network.

Why it matters

A minister resigning less than four weeks before an election is a political event as much as a safety one, and Sanchez has described it as an act of responsibility towards the victims. The story also matters outside Spain, because the crash shows that a modern high-speed network can fail when a signalling alert is overridden by a human decision. Pakistan’s own railways have had many accidents this year; see our report on Pakistan Railways’ emergency after 55 accidents. The questions that remain are what the formal inquiry finds about the controllers’ decision, who replaces Puente, and whether the rail issue changes votes on November 29.

This article draws on reporting by The Express Tribune and Reuters.