Spain Transport Minister Óscar Puente Quits 26 Days Before Election Over Crash That Killed 69

Spain transport minister Óscar Puente resigned on Tuesday, Nov. 3, six days after a high-speed train crash near Urda in Toledo province killed 69 people, and 26 days before a snap general election. Puente announced the decision at the end of an hours-long hearing before the Permanent Deputation of the Congress of Deputies, and said he would also withdraw from the Socialist candidate lists, Euronews reported.

“My decision is a matter of political dignity,” Puente said, adding that it was the right call for “a modern country, not a failed state as some claim,” according to Politico Europe. As recently as Oct. 30 he had called resigning “the easy option.”

Why the Spain transport minister quit

Puente’s testimony laid out a damaging chain of events. The LZB automatic safety system on the Madrid-Seville high-speed line failed, halting trains on a 39-mile stretch. A control center run by Adif, the state rail infrastructure manager, nonetheless cleared a Renfe AVE train to continue. It traveled about 25 kilometers at more than 160 km/h before slamming into the back of a stationary train run by private operator Iryo, according to Euronews. Around 200 people were injured.

Unions and the right-wing opposition had accused Puente of pinning the blame on a single control-center operator, the Guardian reported, citing AFP. Pressure also came from inside the government’s orbit: the Basque Nationalist Party and Catalan separatists Junts, whose votes Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has relied on, both demanded he go, along with the People’s Party (PP) and Vox.

Two disasters on one line

The Urda collision came nine months after a crash near Adamuz in Córdoba province killed 46 people on the same Madrid-Seville route, Spain’s first high-speed line when it opened in 1992. PP parliamentary chief Ester Muñoz said the resignation “comes 116 lives too late,” a figure that adds the two crashes to a train driver killed in a separate accident in Catalonia this year. By a Boston Report calculation, the Urda crash alone accounts for 59% of those 116 deaths.

Puente defended the line, saying it was “neither an abandoned nor a forgotten piece of infrastructure” and citing a €780 million renewal plan. Critics argue maintenance spending has not kept up with traffic since Spain opened its rail market to private operators in 2021.

Sources: AFP via the Guardian; Euronews. Table: The Boston Report

What it means for the Nov. 29 election

Puente was one of Sánchez’s most trusted lieutenants and among his sharpest attack voices against the opposition. Sánchez praised him on social media: “Puente stood up, stepped up and then stepped aside.” The prime minister is trailing in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 29 vote, according to AFP, and the two rail disasters have overshadowed the campaign. Vox spokesperson Pepa Millán said Puente had “neither dignity nor shame,” while the BBC noted that he had repeatedly ruled out quitting since the crash.

Our earlier coverage traced the first hours after the Toledo collision and the far-right protests in Madrid that targeted Sánchez. Watch next for who replaces Puente at the ministry, whether the rail strikes go ahead and whether official investigators confirm his account of the control-center decision. More world news from Europe’s election season will follow.

Sources

• Euronews: Spain’s transport minister Óscar Puente resigns over Urda train crash that killed 69
• The Guardian (AFP): Spanish transport minister resigns after deadly train crash
• Politico Europe: Spain’s transport minister resigns after deadly train crash
• BBC: Spanish transport minister resigns days after deadly train crash