Spain Transport Minister Resigns After Rail Crash Kills 69

Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente resigned on Tuesday. He made the announcement after an hours-long session before lawmakers. This came six days after a high-speed train collision south of Madrid killed 69 people.

Puente stated that a transport minister in a country like Spain cannot remain in office after two accidents of this seriousness in less than a year. He noted that the decision to leave was made immediately after the deadly crash but had not been made public until now.

The October 28 disaster occurred when a high-speed train struck another train that was stopped on the tracks. The sequence began when a key communication system for the security network on the Madrid-Seville line failed. Central controllers in Madrid took over operations and authorized a state-operated Renfe high-speed train to proceed. They did so despite a stationary train operated by Iryo being ahead of it.

This was the second major crash on the Madrid-Seville line this year. In January, a train derailed and hit another train traveling in the opposite direction. That incident killed 46 people. The investigation into the January crash is still ongoing.

The network is the second-largest in the world, behind only China’s. Until this year, it had not seen a deadly crash since coming into service more than three decades ago. The recent events have renewed questions about the safety of the system, which is often viewed as one of the country’s major engineering achievements.

The timing of the resignation adds political weight to the incident. The crash happened four weeks before a national election. Earlier on Tuesday, Puente outlined new safety measures for the government. These include improving conditions in control centers and accelerating the rollout of the European Rail Traffic Management System for signaling and safety.