The Senate demands Puente's resignation with votes from the PP, Vox and Esquerra

MadridTransport Minister Óscar Puente remains in the eye of the storm. Although he appeared before the Senate last week and the Congress on Tuesday, the upper house demanded his resignation on Wednesday over his handling of the Adamuz and Gelida train accidents, as well as the ongoing rail chaos, now concentrated primarily in Catalonia. The People's Party (PP), which holds an absolute majority in the chamber, forced his resignation by presenting a motion calling for "the immediate resignation of the Transport Minister, without prejudice to any political responsibilities that may correspond to the President" of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez. However, they were not alone in the vote. Vox, as well as the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), one of Sánchez's investiture partners, voted in favor of the motion. "Enough of minimizing what happened," declared PP Senator Carmen Belén López. In his opinion, the recent accidents are the result of "negligent management": "The fear of being late has become the fear of not arriving at all." During his speech, López accused Puente of lying and spreading "falsehoods": "You don't play games with the safety of Spaniards." The task of responding fell to Socialist Senator Marcos Albadalejo, who lamented the PP's "confrontational" attitude: "Spain has one of the most important railway systems in Europe and it is undergoing a modernization process precisely to address the shortcomings accumulated during the Popular Party governments." He thus regretted that the PP is pretending the state of the railway network doesn't concern them: "Investment has skyrocketed" since the Socialist government, increasing "by more than 60%" since 2017, Mariano Rajoy's last year as head of the Spanish government, Albadalejo said of Adamuz and Gelida, referring to the overall state of the trains.

Transport meeting with the unions

Alongside the Senate debate, the Ministry of Transport met this Wednesday with railway unions to try to avert the train drivers' strike planned for February 9, 10, and 11. However, the meeting yielded no results, and the strike call remains in place, as reported by union representatives from CCOO, UGT, and SEMAG after a two-hour meeting. In any case, unions and the ministry will meet again in the coming days to try to resolve a conflict that would further exacerbate the chaos already plaguing the rail network. Sources at the Ministry of Transport emphasized that the tone of the meeting was "positive" and that the "will" is to maintain dialogue to reach an agreement that addresses the demands of the group. In fact, the next meeting will be this Thursday.

The meeting was attended by the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente; the Secretary of State for Transport, José Antonio Santano —remotely—; the president of Adif, Pedro Marco; the president of Renfe, Álvaro Fernández; the director of human resources at Renfe, Lucas Calzado; and the general secretary of Land Transport, Rocío Báguena. Union representatives from CCOO, UGT, and SEMAF were also present. "We trust that the ministry will present us with short- and medium-term solutions," stated the general secretary of SEMAF, Diego Martín, who lamented that the railway sector had been largely ignored. "Our demands have not been addressed," he said. One of the unions' demands is for increased staffing levels.

The government's partners are also applying pressure

However, the PP is not the only party critical of Puente's management; Esquerra Republicana (ERC) is also critical (as evidenced by Wednesday's Senate vote), as is Junts per Catalunya, which abstained from the PP's motion because they are wary of explicitly supporting the PP on this issue, given that they also consider the PP responsible for the current railway chaos. In addition to demanding the minister's resignation, the text also calls for an extraordinary, province-specific investment plan, a review of safety protocols, and improvements to train communication and tracking systems. In fact, Junts has repeatedly stated that Puente must step down, and this Wednesday, the Republican leader, Oriol Junqueras, echoed this sentiment in an interview. The morning of Catalunya Ràdio"Someone must take political responsibility," he declared, also pointing the finger at the Minister of Territory, Silvia Paneque. "Resignations here and there," Joan Queralt (ERC) emphasized from the Senate rostrum. "This is worse than the ghost train," he asserted.

Eduard Pujol, of Junts, was also critical. "Catalonia still has no trains and no government, with trains that don't run on schedule, and with governments that don't function either," he lamented. "The origin of all this chaos is called Adif, it's called Renfe, it's called the Ministry, the Holy Trinity of incompetence and negligence," he added. And at this point, he urged the Republicans not to make a mistake when negotiating the transfer of the commuter rail service, which envisions a joint venture with state entities. However, aside from criticizing the Socialists, Pujol also addressed the Popular Party senators: "How dare you talk about commuter rail as if it doesn't concern you? Does Ana Pastor's name ring a bell?" he quipped.