The board of directors of Adif approved on Wednesday, November 4, an agreement that gives continuity to the incentives of its management for the coming years. Hours later, Pedro Marco de la Peña stepped down as chairman, after the new Transport minister, Carlos Cuerpo, accepted his resignation. This is how El Mundo reports it, placing both decisions on the same day.
The approval came one week after the Urda train accident and the day after Óscar Puente’s resignation. Marco, appointed during the former minister’s term, chaired the extraordinary meeting in which the new funding framework and the entity’s commitments were addressed.
The agreement covers the period 2026-2030 and replaces the previous one, which was in force until 2025. According to information from the newspaper, among its provisions is the continuation of a plan that links part of management’s remuneration to the achievement of objectives.
A plan that extends the incentives of the previous agreement
El Mundo reproduces a clause referring to Adif Alta Velocidad, an entity distinct from Adif, which provides for implementing a management incentives plan coordinated with the criteria of the rest of the organizations dependent on Transport.
The text states that the system will continue that applied during the period 2021-2025. Variable pay will be linked to operating results, investment, and other objectives related to the provision of the service.
Therefore, what was approved is a framework to maintain incentives. The information does not detail a new amount assigned to each executive, a collection date, or compliance with the conditions necessary to receive it.
That difference is relevant: renewing a variable remuneration plan does not amount to proving that a prize payment has been made nor does it, by itself, guarantee that all its beneficiaries will end up receiving it in full.
Approval came before Pedro Marco’s departure
According to El Mundo’s reconstruction, Marco arrived at the extraordinary board meeting with his continuity questioned after Urda and after Puente announced his departure to the Permanent Delegation of the Congress.
The board meeting responded to the need to approve the agreement with the Treasury. After that, there was the meeting with Cuerpo in which, according to the version collected by the newspaper, the chairman of Adif presented his resignation.
The agreement remained like this among the last decisions of his term. The sequence places the renewal of the incentives before the replacement, although it does not allow us to conclude that Marco’s departure was conditioned on that approval.
The information also does not show that the former president will receive additional compensation as a consequence of the new document.
Management received 1.2 million in compensation in 2025
El Mundo puts the remuneration of Adif’s executive committee in 2025 at 1.2 million euros, according to the entity’s economic report.
This amount corresponds to the remuneration of the body, not to a fund identified exclusively as a bonus. It should not be confused with the cost of the new plan or be attributed entirely to incentives.
The committee was chaired by Marco and included, among other members, his chief of staff, Salvador Almenar, and those responsible for planning, projects and construction, operations, finance, and human resources.
The scope of the incentive system could extend beyond that committee. According to sources cited by the newspaper, it also affects other senior-level executives who maintain high-management contracts, including some who keep them after having changed positions.
What objectives are rewarded and what remains to be specified
El Mundo’s investigation indicates that the specific objectives that will determine the variable remuneration for this year are not clear.
The newspaper places between 6% and 30% the portion of the variable pay linked in 2024 to environmental, social, and governance criteria. For 2025, it includes a range of 6% to 22%, with references to energy transition, cohesion, inclusion, and sustainable finance.
According to the newspaper, in the documentation examined on those criteria there are no references to safety or punctuality. This statement describes the material analyzed by El Mundo; without having the complete system, it does not allow us to affirm that no entity objective is related to either of these issues.
The agreement does include, in general terms, service-provision performance objectives. It remains to be known how they will be specified, what weight each indicator will have, and what results will be required in order to generate the right to payment.
The agreement also sets financing and commitments through 2030
The incentives are part of a broader document. As El Mundo explains, the agreement regulates State contributions to finance infrastructure, compensate for operating deficit, and control indebtedness.
In return, it establishes investment, implementation, and service quality commitments. The evaluation of those commitments will be relevant in determining what results the entity achieves and how they relate to the remuneration of its senior executives.
The newspaper also questions the forecasts for preventive maintenance included for the coming years. According to its analysis, the levels planned reach at most 90% on the conventional network and 96% on high-speed, despite the increase in the funds allocated to that activity.
Those percentages refer to the maintenance indicators cited in the information. They do not equate to a percentage of unsafe routes, nor do they, by themselves, allow the causes of an accident to be attributed.
The publication does not specify the individual amount that the executives will receive under the new framework nor the specific objectives that will be applied this year to determine their variable compensation.