The president of the PP and candidate for the Presidency of the Government, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has advanced that he already has defined the profile of the person who would take over the Transport portfolio if he reaches La Moncloa. In addition, he has announced that he will immediately promote a comprehensive audit of the railway network and its safety systems, which will be completed with a "declaration of emergency" and a shock plan with extraordinary funding to carry out the actions deemed essential.
"I have in mind a profile of a good Minister of Public Works, without a doubt," Feijóo indicated during the Europa Press Informative Breakfast, where he underlined that he has been working for years with a specialized team in infrastructure.
When asked if he has already decided who would occupy that responsibility, he avoided specifying names and emphasized that he will only be able to make that appointment depending on what the polls show.
In this line, the leader of the opposition has underlined the importance of having a political leader who masters the department's workings from day one. "We need a Minister or Minister of Public Works who arrives knowing the job," he stressed, insisting that it must be a person "who knows what he or she is talking about."
SAFETY AUDIT IN WEEKS
During his speech, Feijóo detailed that, if he reaches La Moncloa, one of his first decisions will be to order a rapid audit of railway safety systems, whose results he wants to know "in weeks," as well as to proceed with an immediate restructuring of Adif.
The review will cover the drivers' reports, the speed reduction points distributed throughout the network, and the safety systems, with special focus on the railway corridor where the fatalities have occurred.
He also proposed analyzing the state of the ERTMS system and questioned the fact that there are still railway corridors that do not have this protection mechanism.
From the conclusions of that audit, Feijóo has announced a "shock plan" to act from the budgetary and economic point of view, through the "declaration of an emergency" and the approval in the Council of Ministers of the necessary spending for its implementation.
"If I have to stop a line, I will stop it. If I have to lower the speed on certain stretches, I will do it," he maintained, while at the same time proposing to review in detail the situation of the corridors of Cataluña, Andalucía and Levante.
PRIORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OVER NEW WORKS
The PP leader has emphasized that the conservation and maintenance of railway infrastructure and roads will have priority over the start of new projects. "If I cannot start a new project, I will not start it," he warned, criticizing the current state of Spanish highways and assuring that he had never observed a similar situation.
Feijóo recalled that, when he assumed the Presidency of the Xunta de Galicia in 2009, one of his first decisions was to put into operation road conservation and maintenance contracts with a five-year duration, anticipating the budgetary restrictions he foresaw.
The president of the PP has added that the audit will include a "separate section" on the situation of the railway network, with special attention to accidents and safety failures.
In his presentation, he has assured that derailments have grown by 212% since 2018 and has mentioned various indicators on incidents and breakdowns in the railway system, as well as forecasts that he has attributed to an internal Adif report until 2030.
Likewise, Feijóo has called for a review of safety protocols and has defended that the top executives of companies and public bodies be appointed for their solvency and technical training, and not for their political closeness.
"The managers of companies and public departments have to be chosen by ability, not by political affinity," the candidate reiterated, before expressing his support for railway workers and calling for public employees to be heard in order to address the problems of the Administration.
HE DENOUNCES THE "COWARDLY TARGETING" OF RAILWAY WORKERS
Likewise, the 'popular' leader has denounced the "cowardly targeting" that, in his view, the professionals of the railway system in Spain are suffering, and has assured that they "will once again be respected".
"All my solidarity with the citizens who get on a train in fear and all the support for the workers who are in charge of the railway system. They do not deserve the cowardly targeting to which they are being subjected and I guarantee them that they will once again be respected," he stated.
Feijóo has lashed out against the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, of whom he has said that "he does not know how to lead a nation", and against the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, of whom he has affirmed that "he does not know how to be a minister". In this context, he has again insisted that the managers of public companies be "chosen for ability and not for political affinity".