Puente admits that the "underfunding" of the commuter rail network makes it more "vulnerable".

BarcelonaThe Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has once again acknowledged the underfunding of the commuter rail network. These words, which he has uttered before, take on particular significance after the Gelida train accident. Puente admitted that this underfunding makes the service more vulnerable. "It's undeniable," he asserted, although he did not directly point to this issue as the cause of the accident. In a press conference to explain the Adamuz accident, but also to detail what happened in Gelida, Puente assured that the Spanish government is investing heavily to reverse this situation. "We will continue to do so," he concluded. Despite admitting the underfunding of the commuter rail network, Puente also added that it is very complex and that, perhaps due to its age, it has a very unique route and passes through very challenging terrain, with dense vegetation and significant slopes. Specifically, the Gelida accident was caused by a landslide that struck the driver's cab directly, killing a member of the training team. Puente attributed the accident to the heavy rains of the preceding days, which caused the landslide to weigh much more than usual and led to the collapse of the retaining wall. Regarding the ownership of this wall, the minister stated that he does not know who owns it, as there are doubts as to whether it belongs to the AP-7 (Association of Motor Vehicles) or Adif (Spain's railway infrastructure manager). This is not the first time the minister has acknowledged the lack of investment in the commuter rail network. Just this past September, he did so in Congress, when he admitted that the Catalan rail network is the one that has received "worse treatment" from the State and is the most deteriorated"It's the oldest network in every sense and the one that has suffered the worst treatment," he stated at the time. In this regard, Puente maintained that his ministry was investing "everything that can be invested" to renovate it without reaching the "limit" of having to cut off service. In March, it was also necessary to apologize to the lower house for the railway chaos that occurred especially during that month And he defended the investments in infrastructure projects his ministry was undertaking to improve the network. Puente asked the pro-independence movement, which had been the most critical of the minister, to clarify its position: "Either we cut lines or we carry out works while providing service."

The minister's words come on the same day as The independence movement has once again pointed to the State as the culprit. the deterioration of the commuter rail service due to a historical lack of investment. In fact, Junts asserted that the Gelida accident would have been less likely to occur if the commuter rail service weren't "disastrous." The CUP went even further, claiming that the accident would have been "avoidable" if the State had made the necessary investments, while ERC reiterated its support for transferring the commuter rail service to the national government.