Transport Minister Óscar Puente has defied calls to resign over the high-speed rail disaster that killed at least 69 people, insisting his duty is to resolve the problem rather than discuss his position. The refusal came as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez acknowledged public trust in the network is 'broken' and a preliminary investigation found the train was travelling at between 160 and 200km/h when it ploughed into a stationary service near Urda.
Puente told a news conference in Madrid he had 'nothing to hide' and repeated the government's vow to get to the bottom of the disaster. 'My duty right now is not to talk about whether I should remain in my position, but to resolve the problem,' he said. The conservative People's Party (PP) has called for his resignation, while the leader of the leftwing Frente Amplio has said he needs to go. The far-right Vox party has urged the supreme court to investigate him for manslaughter. Puente has insisted he is 'not going to use any worker as a shield'.
The crash occurred after the LZB signalling system failed, transferring control to human operators. Leaked audio recordings suggest an Adif control centre operator cleared the Renfe train to resume travel at normal speed, a decision Puente described as 'inexplicable'. According to Spanish media reports, the operator has declined to be interviewed by the Civil Guard. The preliminary report found the state-operated Renfe train was travelling at between 160 and 200km/h when it struck the stationary Iryo train.
Sánchez said it was 'unacceptable' for Spain to experience two such tragedies within a year, after a similar collision on the same Madrid-Seville line killed 46 people in January. 'Public trust in the high-speed system has been broken,' he said. The identification of victims is proving complex. While 69 deaths have been confirmed, at least 70 people are missing. Only 13 identities have been confirmed, with 31 body bags containing partial remains still awaiting identification. At least 51 foreign nationals from 23 countries were involved in the crash.
The crash has reshaped the campaign for the 29 November snap election. Before the disaster, Sánchez's Socialists had sought to focus on the housing crisis. Yolanda Roman, global director for public affairs at ATREVIA, said the tragedy had dramatically changed the political framing. The crash has given the opposition PP new grounds to challenge the government on competence and security. The PP's leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, said the Spanish people needed answers. A railway traffic controllers' union spokesperson said the minister was blaming a worker operating under increasingly poor conditions and said the safety system was regularly failing. Transport unions have also argued that workloads are too demanding to handle safely.
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Analysis
Why This Matters
Spain's snap election campaign has been upended, shifting focus from housing to rail safety and government competence.
Two high-speed crashes on the same line in a year have shattered public confidence in what was a source of national pride.
The identification crisis leaves hundreds of families in anguish and puts intense pressure on the government's crisis management.
Background
Spain's high-speed AVE network was considered one of the best in Europe. The crash on 28 October near Urda involved a Renfe train colliding with a stationary Iryo service on the Madrid-Seville line. It was the second fatal accident on the same route in 2026, following a collision in Adamuz in January that killed 46 people. The country is in a three-day mourning period ahead of a snap general election scheduled for 29 November.
Key Perspectives
Óscar Puente (Transport Minister): Rejects calls to resign, insisting his focus is on finding solutions; points to the control centre operator's decision as the immediate cause but says blame should not rest on one worker.
Pedro Sánchez (Prime Minister): Admitted trust in the network is broken and promised safety improvements; is facing the political fallout less than a month before an election his party was already trailing in.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo (People's Party): Called for answers and accountability, holding the government politically responsible for both crashes.
Santiago Abascal (Vox): Accused the government of 'killing' the victims and urged the supreme court to investigate Puente for manslaughter.
Ada Colau (Frente Amplio): Called for Puente to resign as soon as possible.
Irene Montero (Podemos): Warned against blaming individual workers, saying the crash is a result of railway sector liberalisation that unions have long warned about.
Rail unions (Semaf, SCF): Condemned the leaking of audio recordings; argued that the real failure is in safety systems and staffing levels, not individual human error.
Esther San Emeterio (victim's relative): Expressed desperation over the slow identification process and lack of information.
What to Watch
Whether the investigation's full findings force Puente to change his position or lead to a political crisis that costs him his job.
How the PP and Vox leverage the disaster in the final stretch of the election campaign, and whether support for Vox grows.
The timeline for restoring services on the Madrid-Seville line and the broader public confidence in high-speed rail.
12 claims in this story checked against 4 sources: 9 supported.
Show each claim
SupportedThe headline says Spain’s rail minister rejects calls to quit as the prime minister says trust is broken.World news | The Guardian: “Sánchez has admitted “trust in high-speed rail has been broken” ... Shortly after Sánchez spoke, Spain’s transport minister, Óscar Puente, who is under growing pressure to resign, gave a press conference in which he dismissed calls to step down”
SupportedThe summary says Puente is focusing on the investigation and resolving the problem rather than resigning.BBC News: ““My duty right now is not to talk about whether I should remain in my position, but to resolve the problem,” Puente said.”
SupportedThe summary says political pressure is mounting ahead of a snap election.RTÉ News: “Transport minister Oscar Puente said he would not resign Authorities cannot rule out more fatalities ... as the country prepares for an election on 29 November.”
SupportedAt least 69 people were killed in the crash.BBC News: “Spain's transport minister says he won't resign over the high-speed rail collision that has left at least 69 people dead.”
SupportedPuente said, “My duty right now is not to talk about whether I should remain in my position, but to resolve the problem.”BBC News: ““My duty right now is not to talk about whether I should remain in my position, but to resolve the problem,” Puente said.”
SupportedSánchez said, “Public trust in the high-speed system has been broken.”World news | The Guardian: ““Public trust in the high-speed system has been broken; the government’s responsibility goes beyond diagnosing the causes – it must also offer solutions to ensure that a tragedy of this scale doesn’t happen again.””
SupportedA preliminary investigation found the train was travelling between 160 and 200 km/h when it struck the stationary train.BBC News: “A preliminary report released by transport investigators late on Thursday found the Renfe train was travelling between 160km/h (99.4mph) and 200km/h when the collision occurred”
Not in the sourcesVox urged the supreme court to investigate Puente for manslaughter.Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera: ““We, too, are in mourning – but do not expect us to stay quiet. We will not maintain a complicit silence. It is my duty to denounce Sanchez’s criminal handling of affairs””
Not in the sourcesThe leader of the leftwing Frente Amplio said Puente needs to go.RTÉ News: “Politicians from across the political spectrum this week condemned Transport Minister Oscar Puente for attributing the crash to a break in protocol by control centre operators rather than accepting responsibility, with rail workers' unions calling for his immediate dismissal.”
SupportedThe crash occurred after the LZB signalling system failed, transferring control to human operators.RTÉ News: “The crash occurred after several trains were automatically stopped due to the failure of a signalling system, after which the central control centre in Madrid took over.”
SupportedSpanish media reports said the operator who cleared the Renfe train to resume travel declined to be interviewed by the Civil Guard.World news | The Guardian: “the operator who cleared the high-speed Renfe Ave train to resume its journey before colliding with the stationary Iryo service has declined to be interviewed by the Civil Guard, according to Spanish media reports.”
Partly supportedAt least 70 people are missing.World news | The Guardian: “69 people have been confirmed dead, but the toll may rise further, with at least 70 people reported missing.”
Corrections
An earlier version of this story attributed unsupported quotations to Alberto Núñez Feijóo, Ada Colau and Esther San Emeterio. The Feijóo passage has been replaced with a sourced account of his call for answers, and the other two passages have been removed.
An earlier version said Alberto Núñez Feijóo held Puente and Sánchez politically responsible for both crashes and attributed additional remarks to him and Ada Colau. The cited sources report Feijóo demanding accountability following this crash but do not support those statements or the resignation call attributed to Colau.