Spain’s transport minister Óscar Puente said he is stepping down six days after a high-speed train collision south of Madrid killed 69 people.
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Spain’s transport minister Óscar Puente announced he is stepping down Tuesday, saying the job can’t continue after two deadly rail accidents in less than a year.
Puente made the announcement at the end of an hours-long appearance before lawmakers about the crash, the second deadly high-speed rail collision in Spain this year.
He told lawmakers: “A transport minister in a country like Spain cannot continue in his post after two accidents in less than a year,” adding, “It’s a question of political dignity, coherence and empathy with the victims.”
The Oct. 28 crash happened when a high-speed train slammed into another that had stopped on the tracks south of Madrid.
The chain of events began when a communication system key to the functioning of the security system on the Madrid–Seville line went down, according to the description Puente brought to lawmakers. Central controllers in Madrid took over and gave the go-ahead for one train to proceed even though a stationary train was ahead.
This was the second major crash on the Madrid–Seville line this year. In January, more than two hours further south along the route, a train derailed and struck another travelling in the opposite direction, killing 46 people, and that crash remains under investigation.
The government also said Tuesday that additional rail safety measures would be implemented, including improving conditions in control centres and pushing for a faster rollout of the standardized European Rail Traffic Management System for safety and signalling.
Spain’s high-speed rail network has been described as one of the country’s major achievements, and until this year it had not experienced a deadly crash since it began operating more than three decades ago.
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