Frente Amplio demands Óscar Puente resign after Urda rail crash killed 69

Death toll and resignation calls

The rail crash at Urda, near Toledo, happened on Wednesday, 28 October, and the latest provisional balance reported by El Periódico puts the dead at 69, with more than 200 injured. El Mundo says the Adamuz (Córdoba) crash in late January killed 46 people, so the two accidents came within roughly nine months of each other.

Adamuz (Córdoba), January 202646

Urda (Toledo), 28 October 202669

Adamuz (Córdoba), January 2026

46 deaths

Urda (Toledo), 28 October 2026

69 deaths

Data from the article text

Ada Colau, the Frente Amplio candidate for Barcelona, asked for Transport Minister Óscar Puente to resign on Friday, 30 October, after calling on 28 October for political responsibilities to be assumed. Emilio Delgado, the coalition's lead candidate for Madrid, repeated the demand on Saturday, 31 October, calling two accidents of this kind in such a short time 'absolutely unacceptable'. The Popular Party (PP) has pushed the same line, and Alberto Núñez Feijóo had already named Sánchez and Puente as political responsible on 30 October, while official mourning was still in place.

Juan Bravo, the PP's deputy secretary for finance, housing and infrastructure, spoke in a video recorded after a videoconference with the party's regional infrastructure councillors. He argued that Sánchez had himself recognised the accidents as unacceptable, and said:

“If Mr Sánchez has acknowledged that these two accidents are unacceptable, this has to have consequences.”

Puente's account

Puente has appeared before the media twice since the crash and has said he will not resign, at least for now, arguing that his departure would not ease the victims' suffering. He has avoided the phrase 'human error' while hinting at it, calling one decision clearly wrong and saying the control centre had more than enough time to spot the error and did not resolve it. In his 30 October appearance he described the controller on duty as 48 years old, with two years of experience, in the sector since February, adequately trained and two hours into the shift. He has also criticised Iryo, saying the train had a problem with its onboard equipment. The LZB safety system, which he first described as failing 'on some occasions', had by 30 October become an incident that occurred 170 times this year.

Technical failures and the investigation

El Periódico reports that a chain of technical failures disabled the LZB safety system before the collision, though the definitive causes are still under investigation. The same report says the minister acknowledged that the alternative circulation protocol was applied incorrectly after the breakdown. The PP wants an urgent investigation focused on the high-speed line linking the capital with southern Spain, and has proposed an emergency plan centred on safety, conservation and maintenance. Puente had also raised the possibility of suspending the Madrid to Barcelona high-speed service while tracks are renewed, which added to uncertainty about the state of the network.

Emilio Delgado told reporters in Barcelona that Adif staff monitoring rail traffic have gone from about 15 simultaneous trains to as many as 40 in six years. He blamed PP-era cuts, underinvestment and a poorly managed liberalisation, and rejected placing the burden on rail workers, who have described shifts of up to 12 hours a day. He put it this way:

“In no case are we willing to accept that all the responsibility pivots around the workers, and it is time for political responsibilities to be assumed.”

Sánchez, Congress and the campaign

Sánchez has kept his confidence in Puente, and the PSOE has ignored its partners' demand, according to eldiario.es, which adds that Frente Amplio has not eased its pressure on Puente or on the infrastructure model the socialists defend. The coalition has chosen not to involve its own ministers publicly in the dispute with the PSOE, leaving Colau as its sharpest voice since 28 October. Puente is scheduled to appear before the Diputación Permanente of Congress on 3 November to explain the Urda accident and its aftermath, a session eldiario.es expects will show the gap between the partners. Among the voices cited, UGT general secretary Pepe Álvarez is the only one who has accepted Puente handling the response if Sánchez decides so, and he warned against blaming people without objective data. Frente Amplio is framing the crisis as a debate over more public investment and better protection for rail workers.