The railway crisis that has been caused by the resignation of Óscar Puente and the departure of the president of Adif has not been closed with those two moves. Carlos Cuerpo has temporarily taken over the Transport competences and has started a round of talks with those responsible for the sector and the trade union organizations, while the demands concerning safety and maintenance of the network remain pending. In this scenario, further changes in the management teams of the railway companies and of the Ministry cannot be ruled out.
The first departure was that of Puente, who submitted his resignation as minister after the railway accident in Urda (Toledo), in which 69 people died. At that time, the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, tasked Cuerpo, the First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, with handling Transport affairs on a temporary basis.
The following day, the president of Adif, Luis Pedro Marco de la Peña, also submitted his resignation during a meeting with Cuerpo. The new person in charge of Transport confirmed that he had accepted it and described the decision as "the right one." As he explained in an interview on TVE, Marco de la Peña had cited reasons similar to those put forward by Puente. The executive had been in charge of the infrastructure manager since September 2024.
Cuerpo's first meetings with the railway leadership
One of Cuerpo's first decisions after taking over the competences was to convene the main heads of the rail area. On November 4, he met with Marco de la Peña and with the Secretary of State for Transport, José Antonio Santano. The meeting ended with the resignation of the president of Adif.
The next day, the new person in charge of Transport held a meeting with the president of Renfe, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, Santano, and representatives of the Spanish Rail Drivers' Union (Semaf). It was the first contact with the representatives of the drivers since the change at the head of the Ministry and it was framed within efforts to draw closer in order to address the labor conflict and demands for safety.
The meeting did not result in progress. Semaf defined it as a first round of contact and assured that it had conveyed to Cuerpo the workers' discontent and their demands for a structural change in railway safety. The union announced that the Ministry had convened a new meeting for this Friday, November 6.
Train drivers keep strikes and demand changes in safety
The lack of progress keeps the conflict with the train drivers open. Semaf retains the strike calls at Renfe for November 10 and 12 and has also announced a work stoppage on the 17th for drivers of different railway operators. The organization argues that the mobilizations respond to the delay in meeting the safety commitments reached with the Ministry and public companies after the Adamuz accident.
The union calls for cross-cutting measures for the entire sector, which make it possible to put safety before the companies’ commercial and operational interests. Among its demands is the implementation of the commitments agreed on February 9, which included working groups to review and develop safety procedures and rules. Semaf maintains that these efforts have not advanced at the agreed pace.
Pressure does not come only from the train drivers. Adif’s general works committee unanimously agreed to call a 24-hour strike for November 17, in addition to a rally in front of the Congress on the 16th. UGT has pointed out that the Urda accident has once again highlighted the need to address structural deficiencies and not to limit the analysis of responsibilities to the last link in the railway chain.
The crisis goes beyond changes in leadership
The departures of Puente and Marco de la Peña occur after two fatal accidents in high-speed rail within less than a year: that of Adamuz, in Córdoba, which left 46 deaths, and that of Urda, with 69 fatalities. The succession of tragedies has placed pressure on the management of infrastructure, maintenance, safety protocols, and the organization of railway work.
Cuerpo has stated that its priority is to restore confidence in the railway network and has defended that measures had already been adopted in operational, technological, protocol, and maintenance-related resources. It has also highlighted the increase in the investment planned by Adif for the coming years.
However, meetings with the unions have not closed the conflict and the strike calls remain on the table. The new phase of Transport begins, therefore, with two vacancies or first-level replacements already produced, an open labor negotiation, and the demand for changes in how the system operates. The continuity of the current heads of Renfe and of the State Secretariat thus remains within the uncertainties that Cuerpo will have to clear up at the head of the Department.