Ouigo suspends all its trains until Monday so as not to worsen the chaos caused by the strike during the holiday weekend

Minimum services during a railway strike are set by the competent governmental authority, not by the company alone. They must protect the essential needs of the population without neutralizing the right to strike. Their challenge falls under the jurisdiction of administrative courts, and the request for precautionary measures allows for an urgent decision before the strike takes place.

1. Legal framework and competent authority

The basis is Article 28.2 of the Constitution, which recognizes the right to strike and requires guaranteeing essential community services, along with Article 10.2 of Royal Decree-Law 17/1977, interpreted by the Constitutional Court.

The decision is made by the state or regional authority that has political competence and responsibility over the affected service. It is not enough that trains run within a community to automatically attribute that power. The STC 233/1997 links the decision to that responsibility over the service and excludes leaving it in the hands of the employer.

2. How minimum services are set

• Examine the call. The duration, schedules, territorial scope, and affected workers must be assessed, as well as user needs and the existence of alternative transport.
• Specify what is essential. The public nature of the railway does not justify any restriction. It is necessary to identify the rights and goods that need protection in that specific strike.
• Evaluate proposals. The authority must consider service maintenance offers and justify its decision. Prior negotiation is not, by itself, an indispensable constitutional requirement, according to STC 27/1989.
• Issue a reasoned resolution. It must explain which services are maintained and why their scope is necessary and proportionate. Generic formulas or justifications added only during litigation are not valid.
• Communicate and execute the decision. Those affected must know the resolution and its reasons to comply with and challenge it. The company can specify technical execution aspects but cannot freely decide the intensity of the restriction.

There is no single constitutional percentage applicable to any railway strike. The STC 2/2022 requires a justified minimum coverage, not simply maintaining the usual performance.

3. What happens when an appeal is filed

The administrative resolution is challenged before the administrative jurisdiction. The specific judicial body depends on who issued the act. When a violation of the right to strike is alleged, the special procedure for the protection of fundamental rights may be used.

Appealing does not mean suspension. Therefore, a precautionary measure may be requested: total or partial suspension or other provisional protection. The court weighs the effectiveness of the right to strike and the harm the measure could cause to essential services. The STC 148/1993 highlights the need for immediate and effective judicial control.

4. Judgment, appeals, and consequences

After examining the resolution and its justification, the court may confirm or annul it totally or partially due to incompetence, insufficient motivation, or disproportion. Then the legally provided appeals proceed, including cassation when applicable; once the judicial route is exhausted, constitutional protection may be requested if its requirements are met.

The fact that the strike has ended does not necessarily eliminate the interest of the process. Damage repair may be discussed, including compensation when appropriate. Labor sanctions for non-compliance are examined separately in the social jurisdiction: the annulment of minimum services must be considered, but it does not automatically make any refusal to comply legitimate, as explained by STC 123/1990.

The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility directs the state railway policy: it proposes regulations, plans the network, organizes services, and supervises affiliated public entities. However, it does not concentrate all decisions: its competencies must respect the powers of the State Railway Safety Agency, the National Commission of Markets and Competition, and infrastructure administrators.

The organizational distribution is mainly set out in Royal Decree 253/2024, especially in its articles 1, 2, 3, and 5. Law 38/2015, on the railway sector, is the sectoral reference cited by that regulation for planning, administrators, and charges.

Political direction and organization

Article 1 assigns the Ministry the proposal and execution of the Government's policy on infrastructures of state competence, as well as the control, organization, and administrative regulation of the corresponding services. It also includes investment planning and programming.

• State Secretariat for Transport and Sustainable Mobility: defines and proposes policies, formulates strategic planning, monitors the railway network, and programs investments. According to article 2.9, it exercises strategic direction, evaluation, and control of results of ADIF, Adif-High Speed, and Renfe-Operator.
• General Secretariat of Land Transport: promotes planning and evaluation of the General Interest Railway Network and the organization of state railway services. It coordinates the general directorates of the Railway Sector and Road and Rail Transport, and promotes regulatory projects, plans, and innovation, according to article 3.

Norm development and European coordination

The General Directorate of the Railway Sector plays a central role in infrastructure regulation. Article 5.1 assigns it the task of drafting regulatory proposals on the General Interest Railway Network, participating in the development of European and international standards, and proposing their incorporation into the Spanish legal system regarding infrastructures, service facilities, activity, and financing of their administrators.

It also proposes technical regulations and implementation plans for European interoperability technical specifications, that is, the conditions that allow different railway systems to operate jointly. These tasks are exercised without invading the competencies of the State Railway Safety Agency.

Planning, authorizations, and coordination

The same general directorate performs functions that turn railway policy into decisions about the network:

• Develops and supervises railway plans and the strategy for development, maintenance, and renewal of infrastructures.
• Processes feasibility and informative studies and plans terminals and service facilities of general administrators.
• Proposes updates to the infrastructure catalog, inclusions and exclusions of lines, and their closure.
• Processes and authorizes private infrastructures and develops planned actions for railway infrastructures in ports and airports of general interest.
• Coordinates administrators and operators, especially in trans-European corridors and commuter lines; prepares agreements with other administrations and carries out expropriation actions.

Charges, safety, and limits

In economic matters, it proposes developing and updating the basic principles of the railway charges system, including incentives and compensations. This does not mean unilaterally deciding all amounts: article 5.1.ñ preserves the competencies of the CNMC and administrators. It also processes agreements with them and evaluates their activity programs.

The State Railway Safety Agency is attached to the Ministry through the General Secretariat of Land Transport but has functional autonomy. The regulation reserves its competencies in operational safety, interoperability, and dangerous goods.

Finally, Royal Decree 690/2025 assigns the State Secretariat the preventive coordination of crises, victim care protocols, and relations with the independent accident investigation authority. These are coordination functions, distinct from independent technical investigation.

The general secretary of Semaf is Diego Martín Fernández, a Renfe train driver who reached the union leadership after developing his career in Cercanías, High Speed, and Long Distance services. He was elected on November 4, 2022, replacing Juan Jesús García Fraile, and unanimously re-elected in November 2024. His trajectory combines experience in railway driving, union communication responsibilities, and collective bargaining.

From training at Renfe to driving

According to the Semaf biographical note, Martín belongs to the first class of Renfe's Professional Technical School, whose first group started in July 2008. When he assumed the general secretary position in 2022, he had approximately fourteen years of railway experience.

His professional experience includes assignments at Barcelona Sants Rodalies, Fuencarral Cercanías, and Fuencarral High Speed/Long Distance. This path has allowed him to work in different passenger transport segments: from metropolitan services to long-distance runs. It is the main professional background the union cites when explaining his rise to the position.

Joining the union leadership

The first milestone in his rise within Semaf detailed in the same note is November 2017, when he was proposed to join the Executive Committee. His responsibility was linked to modernizing and improving the organization's communication area.

Later, at the 14th Congress, held in June 2021, consensus was reached for him to lead the generational change. Therefore, his access to the general secretary was not a direct incorporation from outside the union structure: he had previously passed through its executive leadership and participated in preparing the leadership change.

The State Assembly unanimously elected him on November 4, 2022. He replaced Juan Jesús García Fraile, who had led Semaf for twenty-four years. The organization expressly presented that appointment as a commitment to generational change, after a prolonged period under the same leadership.

Consolidation of his mandate

In November 2024, the 15th Semaf Congress unanimously ratified him for a new three-year term. In the report published by the union, highlights included the signing of the Third Collective Agreement of the Renfe Group and the first specific agreements for Captrain, Ouigo, and Iryo drivers.

These are milestones of Semaf's collective activity during his tenure, not results to be attributed exclusively to Martín. They also reflect a representation scope that includes both the public operator and other railway companies.

His role in train drivers' conflicts

As general secretary, Martín acts as public spokesperson and union representative in conflicts over safety, rest, work organization, and compliance with agreements. In the case of Ouigo, he has denounced issues related to availability shifts, excessive working hours, and work-life balance, according to Demócrata information.

The 24-hour strike at Renfe on October 29 was called after negotiations and mediation in the Conflict Commission ended without progress. Demócrata explained the call due to disagreements over labor agreements and safety. In summary, Martín approaches this conflict with driving experience, five years of prior executive experience, and almost four years leading the union.