Spain's Transport Minister Resigns Over the Urda Crash After Revealing Controllers Let a Train Run Past a Failed Safety System

Spain's transport minister, Óscar Puente, resigned Tuesday over last week's high-speed train collision near Urda, in Toledo province, which killed 69 people, after telling lawmakers that controllers had allowed the train to keep running after its automatic safety system failed, according to Euronews, Al Jazeera and Politico Europe.

Puente, a Socialist and a close ally of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, announced the decision before the Permanent Deputation of the Congress of Deputies, the standing committee that acts for the lower house while it is dissolved ahead of the Nov. 29 snap general election, Euronews and Politico reported. He also withdrew from his party's candidate lists for that election.

What he told lawmakers

Puente said the control center run by Adif, Spain's state-owned rail infrastructure manager, allowed the AVE high-speed train to continue even though its LZB automatic safety system had failed, Euronews reported. A train operated by the private company Iryo had stopped farther along the track.

Al Jazeera, citing AFP and Reuters, reported that trains on that stretch had been ordered to stop after a signal failure, but central controllers in Madrid, who had taken control after the failure, authorized the Renfe train to continue, and it struck the stationary Iryo train. Euronews reported that the train was allowed to keep running at more than 160 kilometers per hour after the safety system failed. Around 200 people were injured.

Puente defended the Madrid-Seville line. "It is neither an abandoned nor a forgotten piece of infrastructure," he said, pointing to a €780 million renewal plan, according to Euronews. He also defended the reliability of the LZB system and announced new safety technology.

Why he resigned

"A transport minister in a country like Spain cannot continue in office with two accidents of this severity in less than a year," Puente said, according to Al Jazeera, referring also to a January derailment near Adamuz, in Córdoba province, that killed 46 people on the same line.

He called stepping down "good for the country and for democracy" and said, "It is not true that all politicians are the same," Euronews reported. "My decision is a matter of political dignity," he said, according to Politico. He ended his remarks: "I trust my country will live up to the occasion. I have tried to live up to it. Farewell."

Puente said he had decided to resign immediately after the crash but stayed while the government coordinated its initial response, Al Jazeera reported. That contrasted with his public statements last week; on Oct. 30 he said resigning would be "the easy option," Politico reported, and government sources said as late as Tuesday afternoon, "He's not going to resign, and we're not going to dismiss him."

Reaction

"Puente stood up, stepped up and then stepped aside," Sánchez wrote on social media, according to Politico. "While some only give lectures, others give it their all."

Ester Muñoz, the People's Party parliamentary spokesperson, said the minister's job "is not to explain fatal accidents, it is to prevent them," Euronews reported, and told Politico, "The resignation comes 116 lives too late," counting both crashes and a train driver who died in a separate accident in Catalonia. Pepa Millán of Vox said, "He has neither dignity nor shame."

The People's Party and Vox had demanded his resignation, as had the Basque Nationalist Party and the Catalan party Junts, whose votes the Sánchez government has relied on, according to Euronews. Politico reported that members of Sumar, the junior coalition partner, had also called for him to go.

Safety changes and compensation

Services on the Madrid-Seville line have been reduced while the Railway Safety Agency reviews its safety system, and the government is completing a delayed rollout of the European Rail Traffic Management System, Al Jazeera reported. Planned measures include an artificial intelligence system to detect anomalies and monitor conversations between drivers and controllers.

Sánchez announced a €30 million aid package, under which bereaved families will receive €72,121 in direct aid plus an equal amount in advance compensation, according to Al Jazeera.

The Adif works council has agreed to push for a strike on Nov. 17 over rail safety, although it has not been formally called, Euronews reported.

What is still unknown

The official investigation into the Urda collision has not been completed, and the reports reviewed did not say who will replace Puente in the caretaker government before the election.