Sánchez announces aid decree doubling passenger insurance for Urda rail crash victims

Aid decree announced in Barcelona

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday, 2 November, that the Council of Ministers will approve a decree of aid for victims of the rail accident at Urda, in Toledo province, on Tuesday, 3 November. He made the announcement at the World in Progress (WIP) forum organised by Prisa in Barcelona, where he offered condolences to the families of those who died. The crash happened on 28 October, and El Mundo reports 69 deaths as of the morning of 2 November. Sánchez said the government had declared three days of mourning for the victims.

He linked the new package to the response after the Adamuz accident near Córdoba on 18 January, which killed 46 people. The government set up an aid shield after that crash, and the new decree is based on the same model.

Four measures in the decree

According to Sánchez, the decree will rest on four pillars. The first is an aid package that doubles the amount of the compulsory passenger insurance. The second is a specific mechanism to advance compensation, so that victims and their families do not have to wait for the end of proceedings before receiving a first payment. The third is a temporary incapacity procedure designed to give improved cover to people hurt in the crash. The fourth is a set of offices offering comprehensive, personalised attention in the government delegations and sub-delegations of the regions where the victims live.

Sánchez has not yet detailed the economic conditions or eligibility requirements for the incapacity benefit, which will be set out in the text the Council approves.

Public services and trust in high-speed rail

Sánchez framed the response within the defence of public services and said the government would not answer the tragedy with cuts. He argued that public health care, emergency services and security forces protect people in crises, according to ABC's account of his speech in Barcelona.

“Every cut to public services is a cut to our capacity to protect one another in the hardest moments.”

He acknowledged that citizens have lost confidence in high-speed rail and pledged to restore that trust as quickly as possible and at any cost. He said the most urgent task now is helping the victims.

Investigation and poll

Sánchez said independent investigators and the courts are working to establish what happened, using all necessary means and with full transparency. During an earlier visit to the crash site, he pledged to demand responsibilities if investigations found negligence or failures in safety systems.

“There are dozens of families broken by an accident that should never have happened.”

A Sigma Dos survey published by EL MUNDO on Monday, the first carried out entirely after the Urda accident, puts the Socialist party (PSOE) at 24.6% of voting intention. That would be below 25% for the first time this legislature. The poll gives the party between 97 and 103 seats, a range that straddles the psychological barrier of 100 seats.

Timeline and casualty figures

The two rail accidents in the reporting are the Adamuz crash on 18 January and the Urda crash on 28 October. The timeline below traces the key dates from the articles, and the comparison shows the death tolls each outlet reported.

Adamuz (18 January)46

Urda (as of 2 November)69

Adamuz (18 January)

46 people

Urda (as of 2 November)

69 people

Data from the article text