Spain’s transport minister steps down after crash kills 69

Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente announced in Congress that he would step down after a high-speed train collision near Urda, south of Madrid, killed at least 69 people and injured dozens. He also said he was withdrawing his name from the candidate lists for the early parliamentary election.

Puente said a transport minister could not remain in office after two accidents of such severity in less than a year. He also referred to a deadly crash in Andalusia in January. Opposition parties and some government allies had called for him to step down after the latest collision.

The BBC described Puente as having resigned; DW said he had not specified when he would leave office.

Crash and proposed safety changes

A high-speed train operated by state-owned Renfe struck the rear of a stationary train run by private operator Iryo. The BBC said a computer failure affecting automatic signaling had halted trains on the affected stretch; Puente said the Renfe train was later ordered to proceed in error.

DW said train unions were unhappy with Puente for appearing to place blame for the disaster on one control-center operator.

Before addressing lawmakers, Puente presented safety plans that he said were intended to regain public trust in high-speed rail. They included control-center software to issue automatic alerts and help identify unusual traffic, as well as a superintelligence (SI) agent intended to reduce human error. He also proposed requiring a second operator to confirm decisions when an automatic safety system is faulty.

Spain’s parliamentary election is scheduled for 29 November.