Live, Puente appears to explain the railway accident in Urda (Toledo)

A single deadline cannot be set to approve a possible temporary closure of the Madrid-Barcelona AVE without knowing its cause, duration, and scope. The decisive issue is to distinguish an operational interruption —due to works, maintenance, or an incident— from a decision affecting the continuity of the infrastructure or service. No sufficient information has been found in the consulted sources to identify the legally required procedures and deadlines in this specific case.

Therefore, it would not be accurate to attribute a specific authorization to the Ministry, Adif, or the State Railway Safety Agency, nor to give a number of days to obtain it. The following outlines the issues that must be resolved to build a reliable schedule; it does not constitute a list of already verified authorizations.

1. Define what "temporary closure" means

Before discussing approval, it is necessary to specify the object of the decision. A suspension of circulation during certain nights, a complete cut for months, and the interruption of some commercial services are different scenarios. It must also be clarified whether the entire Madrid-Barcelona connection is closed, a section of infrastructure, or only certain stations.

• Cause: scheduled works, maintenance, technical incident, or safety risk.
• Scope: affected tracks and sections, suspended circulations, and possible alternative routes.
• Duration: planned dates and technical conditions to restore circulation.
• Associated action: whether only traffic is interrupted or the infrastructure is also modified.

Without these elements, any answer promising a closed procedure would confuse cases that may require different decisions.

2. Separate the decisions that should be identified

The analysis must distinguish three levels, without presuming that all require an independent authorization:

• Infrastructure and circulation. Determine which decision corresponds to the infrastructure manager and how the interruption is articulated with capacity planning, works, and coordination with railway companies.
• Service provision. Identify operators' decisions regarding affected trains, travel alternatives, and passenger information. These issues do not, by themselves, equate to authorizing the closure of the infrastructure.
• Administrative intervention and safety. Specify whether the action requires a ministerial decision, intervention by the safety authority, or approvals linked to the works. It cannot be stated that a temporary suspension automatically implies all three.

3. Which deadlines should be differentiated

The schedule should separate legal deadlines, planning lead times, and actual duration of the works. They are not interchangeable: a work lasting six months does not mean its authorization takes six months, and announcing a cut does not prove that all prior decisions have been made.

For each identified procedure, it would be necessary to know who initiates it, what documentation is required, which body resolves it, if there is a maximum deadline, and from when it is counted. It would also be necessary to distinguish the preparation of the cut from the conditions to reopen. With the available information, verified figures cannot be assigned to any of these milestones.

4. Public information and affected administrations

It also cannot be assumed mandatory to consult all autonomous communities and municipalities just because the line crosses their territories. The procedure that, if applicable, activates that participation must be identified. Information to travelers and operators is a different matter from public information about a project or consultation among administrations.

In conclusion: to respond with specific procedures and days, it is necessary to identify the proposed action and its legal framework. The most useful data would be the announcement, project, or document describing the possible closure. Without it, there is insufficient basis to affirm that it must be approved by the Council of Ministers, that specific safety authorization is required, or that there is a mandatory consultation period.

The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility leads the Government's policy on transport, infrastructure, and sustainable mobility under state competence. Their powers combine the general functions of any minister with the matters specifically assigned to their department. It is important to distinguish their leadership responsibility from the management powers that laws assign to secretariats of state, general directorates, and public entities.

1. General functions as a member of the Government

Article 4 of the Law 50/1997, of the Government establishes four main functions:

• Develop governmental action in their department, in accordance with the agreements of the Council of Ministers and the guidelines of the President of the Government.
• Exercise regulatory power in the matters of the ministry: issue provisions within their competence and respecting higher norms.
• Exercise other powers attributed by laws and the Government's organization and functioning provisions.
• Endorse, when appropriate, the acts of the king related to their competences.

This departmental autonomy does not mean acting outside the Government: article 2 assigns the president the direction and coordination of its members, without removing the minister's direct responsibility for their management.

2. Material competences of the department

Article 1 of the Royal Decree 253/2024, of March 12 assigns the ministry the proposal and execution of government policy in the following areas:

• Land, air, and maritime transport infrastructures under state competence, along with planning and programming of the corresponding investments.
• Transport services: control, organization, and administrative regulation of services within its scope.
• Sustainable mobility: promotion of its social, economic, and environmental dimensions, including active mobility, aiming to guarantee safe and sustainable travel based on social justice criteria.
• Postal services: normative regulation.
• State geographic and scientific services: promotion and direction of those related to astronomy, geodesy, geophysics, and cartography.

3. Planning, execution, and supervision

Under the minister's direction, the Secretariat of State develops strategic planning, programs investments, and coordinates infrastructure execution, directly or through attached entities. Articles 2 and 3 include priorities such as safety, maintenance, daily mobility, and intermodality, that is, the combination of different means of transport.

In the land area, it includes roads and state railway services, planning of the General Interest Railway Network, and monitoring of highway concessions. In air and maritime areas, articles 7 to 9 cover sectoral organization, aeronautical policy, air navigation, state airports, maritime safety, and pollution prevention.

Articles 10 and 11 add coordination of mobility strategies, energy saving, fight against climate change, and Recovery Plan actions corresponding to the ministry. Cooperation with other administrations in sustainable urban mobility is also contemplated.

4. Organization and limits of action

The Secretariat of State and the Undersecretariat report directly to the minister. Strategic direction, evaluation, and control of entities such as ADIF, Adif-High Speed, Renfe-Operator, Enaire, and State Ports are articulated through the Secretariat of State; this does not imply that the minister personally manages each operation.

Royal Decree 690/2025 strengthened crisis and emergency coordination and victim assistance, without transferring direct management from sectoral bodies. Finally, ministerial powers must be exercised respecting those of other administrations and departments. Approving draft laws and certain regulations corresponds to the Council of Ministers, not the minister individually.

Before assuming the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility in November 2023, Óscar Puente had combined twenty years of law practice with a political career focused on Valladolid. He was a councilor, mayor for eight years, municipal and provincial leader of the PSOE, and spokesperson of its Federal Executive. His arrival in the Government came after a brief period as a national deputy.

Education and professional experience

Born in Valladolid on November 15, 1968, Puente holds a Law degree from the University of Valladolid and a master's degree in Political Management from the Jaime Vera Foundation. His main professional activity before dedicating himself exclusively to politics was law practice: he practiced from 1995 until June 2015, when he became mayor. Therefore, during his first years as a councilor, he combined legal work with municipal activity, according to his institutional biography.

He also had a connection with theater during his youth. Various biographical profiles place that activity between 1988 and 1999, although it was law practice that constituted his main professional trajectory before governing Valladolid, as this profile on his education shows.

Early political responsibilities

He joined the PSOE in 1990, but his first notable organizational responsibilities came in 2004, when he assumed the Deputy General Secretariat of the Provincial Executive of Valladolid. In 2007 he was elected councilor of the City Council and, since 2008, he chaired the Socialist Municipal Group, becoming the main opposition figure to the PP municipal government.

In 2009 he took over the leadership of the socialist municipal group, a responsibility he held until December 2021. Then he assumed the provincial General Secretariat. His rise was thus built from the party's local structures and work in the City Council, as explained by Demócrata in his trajectory.

Eight years as mayor of Valladolid

After eight years in opposition, he became mayor in June 2015. Although the PP had been the most voted candidacy, Puente gathered the necessary support to form an alternative majority and end twenty years of popular municipal governments.

In 2019 the PSOE won the municipal elections and Puente continued as mayor. During his two terms, he managed public services and urban policies, including actions on sustainable mobility, cycling, and urban space reorganization. In May 2023 he again led the most voted candidacy, but the agreement between PP and Vox prevented him from retaining the mayoralty, which he left in June, according to the cited Demócrata profile.

Municipal representation and national projection

During his time as mayor, he expanded his municipal representation responsibilities. He chaired the Spanish Network of Healthy Cities of the FEMP between November 2015 and December 2019; was a member of its Governing Board between September 2019 and May 2023; and represented it in the Urban Initiatives Network from October 2020 to May 2023. He was also first vice president of the Ibero-American Organization of Intermunicipal Cooperation, according to La Moncloa.

In parallel, he was spokesperson of the PSOE Federal Executive between June 2017 and October 2021, after Pedro Sánchez's return to the General Secretariat. In July 2023 he obtained a seat for Valladolid and, in September, represented the PSOE in Alberto Núñez Feijóo's investiture debate. Two months later he was appointed minister: thus culminating the transition from law practice and municipal politics to national responsibilities.