Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente has ruled out resigning after two deadly high-speed rail accidents in nine months, saying he has not made or withheld any political decision that contributed to the crashes. He said he understood why some people were calling for him to step down, but would not leave the government less than a month before the elections.
At a press conference following a Cabinet meeting, Puente announced systemic measures intended to improve rail safety and faced questions about who should take political responsibility if the system had failed. He said he could understand calls from people he considered to be acting in good faith, including Ada Colau, but rejected demands from People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Puente criticised what he described as a double standard, referring indirectly to the delayed resignation of former regional president Carlos Mazón.
The minister also discussed the expansion and liberalisation of Spain’s high-speed rail network. He said he had never been a strong supporter of liberalisation and believed the network could have grown more gradually, with a public operator. Although he noted that competition has brought cheaper tickets for passengers, he said Renfe, Iryo and Ouigo have all accumulated substantial losses. He added that there was no evidence linking liberalisation to the accidents.
Puente acknowledged that political pressure from cities seeking high-speed connections may have led to mistakes in expanding the network. He said the issue should be debated nationally and raised questions about whether investment in expansion had come at the expense of maintaining older, heavily used lines. He did not assign blame to any particular government or individual.
Asked why trains do not use a system like those in aircraft or some cars to detect an imminent collision, Puente said GPS does not provide the level of precision required for railways. Existing railway safety systems rely on track-circuit occupancy to identify which section a train is in. He said the government would continue exploring technologies that could help, while noting that such a solution was not currently available.
Sources: El País Portada.