Spanish transport minister resigns after train crash killed 69 people

Oscar Puente says he could not ‘continue in office’ after two major train accidents in less than a year.

Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente has resigned less than a week after one of the deadliest train crashes in the country’s history. He has also withdrawn from the upcoming general election.

Puente said on Tuesday that he had decided to resign immediately after last week’s crash but remained in office while the government coordinated its initial response. The collision, the second major train crash in Spain in less than a year, killed 69 people in central Spain’s Castilla-La Mancha region.

“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, referring also to a high-speed train derailment in January in Andalusia that killed 46 people.

Last week on Wednesday, a high-speed train operated by state-owned Renfe slammed into a stationary train at an estimated speed of 60 to 200 kilometres per hour (100 to 125 miles per hour). The accident happened on the Madrid-Seville line.

Trains on a particular stretch of the line had been ordered to stop after a signal failure. However, central controllers in Madrid, who had assumed control after the failure, authorised the Renfe train to continue its journey, resulting in a collision with a privately operated Iryo train.

In response, services on the Madrid-Seville line have been reduced while the Railway Safety Agency reviews the line’s safety system and the government completes a delayed rollout of the ⁠European Rail Traffic Management System.

Other safety measures to be introduced include an artificial intelligence agent designed to reduce human error by detecting anomalies and monitoring conversations between train drivers and controllers.

Puente said Spain would be the first country to roll out such a safety mechanism.

Victims and their families are also set to receive compensation after Wednesday’s crash under a 30-million-euro ($33.5m) aid package announced by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Bereaved families will receive 72,121 euros ($80,776) in direct aid along with an equal amount in advance compensation.