The Valencian Government has stated that it shares the "deepest concern" of "all" Spaniards over the "dramatic deterioration of the Spanish railway system" following Wednesday's accident in Urda (Toledo), in which 69 people have died and about 80 have been injured. In this context, the Consell has called for the resignation of the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente.
This was stated this Friday by the spokesperson for the Consell, Miguel Barrachina, during the press conference after the plenary meeting of the Valencian Executive.
In the first place, Barrachina has expressed the condolences of the Consell to the relatives of the 69 fatalities of this "tragic accident" and has conveyed his support to those who continue searching for missing relatives, in addition to wishing a speedy recovery for all the injured.
"In addition, being here in Alicante, I want to send a warm greeting and our condolences to the family and friends of Adriana, the 27-year-old Alicantine engineer who died in the accident", he added.
Immediately afterward, he stressed that the Consell shares the "deepest concern" of "all" Spaniards over the "dramatic deterioration of the Spanish railway system".
He recalled that "it is the second of the accidents that we have suffered on the same line, a line on which actions should have been carried out, on which a strike by train drivers had been announced due to lack of safety, on which there had been a loss of more than three million passengers and, also, that it suffered a loss of funds intended to guarantee a safety that, unfortunately and for the second time in ten months, it has been shown did not exist".
When asked whether they believe Puente should leave office, Barrachina answered that "yes". "We think the same as the overwhelming majority of Spaniards, unions and engineers. Puente has not been up to the task either before, during or after the fateful accident", he added.
"Before --he added--, by paralyzing the investigation of the Adamuz accident; during, when 15 minutes after the fateful public accident, he launched tweets talking about the moral superiority of the left; after, when his only concern has been to leak some audios to blame a worker and evade his responsibility".
In this line, the spokesperson has indicated that the Consell considers that Puente should resign and offer explanations about, among other matters, "whether it is true that he has dedicated himself to colonizing Adif and Renfe with 'sanchistas', replacing the technicians. It is necessary to know how the deterioration and colonization of public companies has occurred".
Likewise, he has urged him to clarify "whether it is true that credits and European subsidies have been lost because of making those changes; and whether it is true that in the awarding processes there have been unjustified delays that, had the deadlines been met, we would not have experienced this situation".
Asked later whether, in his opinion, there should also have been resignations over the València metro accident or the dana tragedy, Barrachina has responded that these are "different" cases.
"There have been trains that, unfortunately, in the Comunitat and in Galicia have had accidents and the courts have ruled excessive speed and other reasons, and there have been criminal responsibilities, but he was not referring to these people you are asking about", he said.
And he stressed: "Here it is different". "Here, on the same railway line, two accidents have occurred in 10 months. The investigations into the first accident are not known and what happened here, in Toledo, had been announced, everyone had said it, an Iryo manager, drivers and technicians", he pointed out.
In his view, "what may have been in the Comunitat or in Galicia has nothing to do with a complete system error in Toledo, with trying to demonize a worker, the weakest link. When that worker found himself with six trains stopped it was because there had been an announced system collapse denied by Puente".
Barrachina has emphasized that it is "blatant and evident" that there is a responsibility derived from the recurrence on the same railway line "and this does not happen in any of the cases raised", he reiterated. "In some case, moreover, political responsibilities have indeed been assumed when there is no judicial one. Here the political ones must be assumed and, subsequently, the judges will say whether there is a judicial one", he highlighted.