Spain Transport Minister Stays Put After 69 Killed in Rail Collision
Oscar Puente rejects calls to resign despite leaked audio showing control center cleared a train to move while another stalled ahead.
By Grace Almasi ·
At least 69 people are dead after a high-speed train crashed into a stationary railcar in central Spain.
Oscar Puente, the Spanish transport minister, announced on Friday that he will remain in his role. He held a news conference in Madrid where he stated he had nothing to hide. Puente argued that his current priority is solving the problem rather than debating his position. He noted that many questions still require answers regarding the disaster.
The collision occurred near the town of Urda in Toledo province on Wednesday morning. A state-operated Renfe high-speed train struck the rear of a stationary Iryo train. A preliminary report from transport investigators indicates the Renfe train was traveling between 160km/h and 200km/h at the time of impact. The force of the crash embedded the front carriage of the moving train into the tail of the stopped vehicle.
Puente previously attributed the initial halt of six moving trains to a computer failure at approximately 08:30 on Wednesday. Leaked audio recordings published in Spanish media show conversations between train drivers and the control center shortly before the accident. The recordings suggest a control center gave clearance for one high-speed train to move while another train had stalled on the track about 25km ahead. Puente called the decision to instruct trains to move without speed restrictions inexplicable.
Political rivals and trade unions have demanded Puente step down. Demonstrators protested outside the transport ministry on Wednesday night. The conservative People's Party joined these calls for resignation following a request from trade union CSIF. Puente stated that leaving would be the easy path but did not fit his character. He also said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had asked him to stay.
Sanchez declared that public trust in the high-speed rail network is broken. He described the incident as unacceptable given that a previous collision on the same Madrid to Seville route killed 46 people in Adamuz in January. This latest tragedy is considered one of the worst rail disasters in modern European history and Spain's worst since 2013.
Irene Montero, the prime ministerial candidate for the left-wing Podemos party, argued that responsibility should not fall on a single worker. She noted that experts have warned against the liberalization of the railway sector for years. Puente said he would not use any worker as a shield. He added that if the investigation reveals human error, the government will act accordingly.
Spain is observing a three-day period of mourning. Families of the victims and survivors continue to process the events. The investigation remains ongoing as officials work to determine the full scope of the failures.
