The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has demanded from the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, that he assume the part of responsibility that, in his opinion, corresponds to him for the "very serious negligence" denounced by the victims of the Adamuz (Córdoba) railway accident, in relation to the delay in the action of the 112 emergency service, whose management depends on the Andalusian Government.
Puente has spoken thus during the government control session held this Wednesday in the Plenary of Congress, in response to the questions of PP deputies Elías Bendodo and Eduardo Carazo, who have demanded his resignation considering that the track had been broken 22 hours before the derailment and that Adif would have had margin to avoid the accident.
The head of Transport has insisted, in line with what the president of Adif, Pedro Marco, has been maintaining for weeks, that there is no firm confirmation that the breaking of the track occurred the previous day. He has stressed that that hypothesis comes from a report by the Civil Guard based on a record of voltage drop detected by a Hitachi tool, designed to locate the position of trains at all times, but not to identify fractures in the railway infrastructure.
In this context, Puente has criticized the PP for taking as verified elements that are still under investigation and has gone on the counterattack citing a statement from the victims of the Adamuz accident. In said text, those affected denounce the scarcity of resources of the Andalusian emergency service on the day of the incident, which would have resulted in a delay in assistance and, potentially, in a greater number of victims and injured.
"When is Mr. Moreno Bonilla, his advisor, and the Government of Andalusia going to assume the responsibility that corresponds to them, which is neither more nor less than to give urgent explanations to the victims of Adamuz in relation to this very serious negligence, as I have done since the first day of the investigation?. I am not asking him to resign, I am only asking him one very simple thing, that he come out and respond to these accusations," the minister stated from the tribune.
Puente has proceeded to read a literal passage from the statement of those affected, in which it is reported that the staff in charge of answering distress calls had to manage them "with paper and pencil" due to the collapse of the computer system, resorting to private phones and without communication with the 112 coordinating center.
"Sources close to the Adamuz device publicly assure that the data on the number and condition of victims were added after the Civil Guard arrived at the Alvia 43 minutes after the accident. It is possible that this very serious lack of coordination and immediate assistance from health services may have allegedly caused more victims, more injured, and of greater severity. Perhaps if the previous protocols had not failed, the magnitude of the consequences of the accident would have been smaller," the minister continued reading.
Increase of investment and criticisms of the PP
In the same session, Puente has also answered an interpellation from the PP deputy Mirian Guardiola, who has stated: "We pay more taxes than ever and we have third-world services, where is the money? In bribes, illegal commissions, cronyism and paying for the party for the ministers and their prostitutes".
In the face of these accusations, the minister has wielded the figures for investment in infrastructure to refute the discourse of the Popular Party. He recalled that in the last full fiscal year of the PP Government, in 2017, 1.8 billion euros were allocated, while for 2025 the forecast amounts to 5.2 billion. "The account of where the tax money is is very clear; you don't even have the slightest talent to justify the salary you collect each month," Puente concluded.