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 , centre, leads a news conference at his ministry in Madrid on October 30, 2026, two days after the collision of two high-speed trains [AFP]

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 He has also withdrawn from the upcoming general election.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.

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“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.

奥斯卡·普恩特表示，在不到一年的时间里发生两起重大火车事故后，他无法“继续担任公职”。

2026年10月30日，西班牙交通部长奥斯卡·普恩特（中）在马德里交通部主持新闻发布会，两天前两列高速列车相撞。[法新社]

西班牙交通部长奥斯卡·普恩特在该国历史上最严重的火车事故之一发生不到一周后辞职。他还宣布退出即将举行的大选。

普恩特周二表示，他已决定在上周的事故发生后立即辞职，但在政府协调初步应对措施期间仍留任。这起事故是西班牙不到一年内发生的第二起重大火车事故，造成西班牙中部卡斯蒂利亚-拉曼查地区69人死亡。

西班牙跳远运动员朱丽叶塔·加列戈（Julieta Gallego）是致命火车碰撞事故的三名遇难者之一，以下列出其中一人。

列表 2/3 “如果我们不采取行动，这样的事情还会继续发生”：西班牙火车事故幸存者

西班牙致命火车事故重塑选举格局（共3条，此为第3条）

“在西班牙这样的国家，交通部长不能在不到一年的时间内发生两起如此严重的事故后继续留任，”普恩特说，他还提到了今年1月在安达卢西亚发生的高速列车脱轨事故，该事故造成46人死亡。

上周三，一列由西班牙国家铁路公司Renfe运营的高速列车以估计每小时60至200公里（每小时100至125英里）的速度撞上一列停着的列车。事故发生在马德里至塞维利亚的铁路线上。

由于信号故障，该线路某路段的列车被命令停车。然而，故障发生后接管控制权的马德里中央调度员却授权西班牙国家铁路公司（Renfe）的列车继续行驶，导致该列车与一列私营的伊良（Iryo）列车相撞。

作为回应，马德里至塞维利亚线路的服务有所减少，铁路安全局正在审查该线路的安全系统，政府也在完成欧洲铁路交通管理系统的延迟推广工作。

还将引入其他安全措施，包括使用人工智能代理来检测异常情况并监控列车司机和控制人员之间的对话，从而减少人为错误。

普恩特表示，西班牙将成为第一个推出此类安全机制的国家。

根据总理佩德罗·桑切斯宣布的 3000 万欧元（3350 万美元）援助计划，周三的坠机事故受害者及其家属也将获得赔偿。

遇难者家属将获得 72,121 欧元（80,776 美元）的直接援助，以及等额的预付款。