Spanish transport minister resigns days after deadly train crash
What happened
Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente announced his resignation in Congress on Tuesday, six days after a high-speed train collision near Urda that killed at least 69 people.
He also said he is withdrawing from the candidate lists for the early general election set for 29 November.
A Renfe train rammed into the back of a stationary Iryo train south of Madrid, after a control centre let it continue despite an automatic safety system failure that had halted trains on a 63km stretch.
It was Spain's second deadly high-speed rail crash in under a year, following January's accident that left 46 dead, and the main opposition parties had demanded his exit.
Unions had also been angry that Puente appeared to blame one control centre operator, and the BBC reports his decision surprised many since he had said days earlier he would stay.
Hours before resigning, Puente presented new safety steps, including a second operator to confirm decisions when the automatic system is faulty.
“A transport minister in a country like Spain cannot remain in office after two accidents of this seriousness in less than a year”
BBC
Summary written by AI from 3 independent sources (Guardian, DW, BBC) and checked automatically against them for copied text and numbers that are not in the sources. How we work
Open on the live globe →Who reported it
- 2026-11-03 01:54 UTCJapan Times · japantimes.co.jp ↗
- 2026-11-03 20:21 UTCGuardian via AFP · theguardian.com ↗
- 2026-11-03 20:32 UTCSky News · news.sky.com ↗
- 2026-11-03 20:41 UTCDW · dw.com ↗
- 2026-11-03 20:56 UTCBBC · bbc.co.uk ↗
- 2026-11-03 21:18 UTCFBC News · fbcnews.com.fj ↗
- 2026-11-03 21:43 UTCArab News via AFP · arabnews.com ↗
- 2026-11-03 21:49 UTCCNA via AFP · channelnewsasia.com ↗
- 2026-11-03 21:55 UTCSCMP via AFP · scmp.com ↗
- 2026-11-03 22:07 UTCNYT · nytimes.com ↗
- 2026-11-03 22:57 UTCMyJoyOnline same text as BBC · myjoyonline.com ↗
- 2026-11-04 00:27 UTCABC · abc.net.au ↗
- 2026-11-04 01:03 UTCThe Hindu · thehindu.com ↗
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