The trains have failed again this morning. The Rodalies service is operating this Monday with widespread delays. Why?

It has been a year since Carlos Mazón last spoke at the Valencian Courts. He did so for the last time a few days after his resignation as president to explain himself, "at his own request," before the commission of inquiry opened due to the DANA, which caused 237 deaths in October 2024. Since then, he has basically dedicated himself to voting on the scheduled days (the PSPV claims that he has only attended the Courts nineteen times in one year) and continuing to collect his deputy's salary with added bonuses for exclusive dedication, travel allowances (even though he has an official car for being an ex-president), and serving as the PP spokesperson in a commission, the regulation committee, which has not met even once in the entire legislative term. It amounts to more than 60,000 euros, which also carry judicial immunity, preventing the judge investigating the negligence during the DANA from investigating him.

This time, polling experts are more cautious than in 2023, but the majority opinion is that for now the PP and Vox can maintain hope for a victory wide enough to govern on the upcoming November 29th. Even so, the voices of the left do not falter and are intensely looking for a foothold. They do so with the usual arguments, such as Pedro Sánchez's capacity for resistance and survival, but above all with the idea that Spain cannot have changed so much and that the center-left sensibility continues to be the majority. They are aware, in any case, that this time it will not be enough to rely on the increase in pensions and the minimum wage as the central appeal for the vote. We are living through a pre-campaign marked by tragedies and at the same time accompanied by outbursts and flashes. Everything happens at hypersonic speed, and almost every day the main focus of attention shifts.

Óscar Puente, a foul-mouthed and clumsy politician, has redeemed himself by way of giving explanations and assuming responsibilities with his resignation as Minister of Transport due to the Urda railway tragedy and the high-speed rail disaster. Furthermore, these were not explanations just to get by: they were exhaustive explanations, first in a press conference and then in parliamentary chambers, and at his own request. It was not a deferred resignation either, but a strictly live one, also renouncing being on the electoral lists. This is called accountability and assumption of responsibilities, and the spectacle was so unusual that it left even the sagacious analysts speechless—those who now repeat that the resignation was inevitable (the same ones who, a few hours before it happened, said that Puente would cling to his position because he aspired to be Sánchez's successor). All in all, the one left most disoriented is a nationalist right, the PP and Vox, who, in the face of catastrophes, still use a manual that advises insulting victims when they do not suit their interests. All eyes, by the way, have turned back to Carlos Mazón, after two years have passed since the DANA in the Valencian Community and he remains protected by the PP, with good remuneration and judicial immunity in the Valencian Courts. But beyond the particularly odious comparisons, Puente's resignation has revived the pre-campaign: remember, as columnist Matías Vallés would say, in which newspaper and in which sectarian column you read before anywhere else that the campaign might be knocked out, but not dead.

Finally, yesterday, at the end of a long four-hour appearance at the permanent deputation of Congress, the Spanish Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, presented his resignation.

Since he decided to call elections in the heat of the housing mobilizations, Pedro Sánchez has lost two of his most prized squires: the PSOE spokesperson, Montse Mínguez, due to her partner's real estate dealings, and now the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, his most effective media battering ram, due to the terrible Urda accident that has claimed 69 lives. On paper, no political leader can survive such a disastrous start to an electoral pre-campaign. However, within the catastrophe, Sánchez has found a way to turn Puente's resignation into a kind of lever to take flight again, or at least attempt to.

The surprise resignation this Tuesday of the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, a week after the Urda railway tragedy, has been the umpteenth jolt to the pre-campaign for the general elections in the State. The head of Transport announced his resignation this Tuesday evening after giving explanations in Congress for almost four hours, and this morning, the Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez, has already appointed his replacement. It will be the current First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, who will take over the Transport portfolio. “I accept [Óscar Puente's decision] with gratitude and respect,” said the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, in a brief institutional statement from Moncloa this Wednesday morning, in which he explained that it will be Cuerpo who will assume the powers of the Ministry of Transport “on a transitional basis”.

Until September 26, 2023, the day of the failed investiture debate of Alberto Núñez Feijóo in Congress, Óscar Puente (Valladolid, 1968) was practically unknown to the general public. Pedro Sánchez's assignment to this rank-and-file PSOE deputy, former mayor of Valladolid, to give the reply to the PP leader catapulted him media-wise. Especially due to his provocative tone and the pungent content of his speech. That day, articles proliferated explaining who Puente was, the surprise of the day, who soon took on the labels of "scourge" and "battering ram" of the right, and became one of the socialists most hated by the populars. An animosity that has been increasing during the legislature following his appointment as Minister of Transport, a position he has combined with acting as a doberman for the head of the Spanish executive against the attacks of the opposition.

The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has retracted and cooled the debate on a possible long and imminent closure of the Barcelona-Madrid high-speed line while the renovation work lasts. The idea, launched last week by the minister himself following the accident between two trains in Urda, in Toledo, reopened an old debate in the sector and generated rejection from the Generalitat. Puente clarified this Tuesday that it is a "debate," and completely ruled out that it is a measure that could be implemented immediately. “I want to make it clear that no decision has been made,” said Puente, who acknowledged that perhaps he did not explain himself well.

The Spanish government is taking a step forward to respond to both the safety of the railway network and the victims of the tragic accident in Urda, in the province of Toledo. The President of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, had already hinted a few hours after the collision between the two trains at the intention to approve measures to reinforce high-speed safety. A service that, in the words of Sánchez himself, has been "hit" after experiencing two tragedies in less than a year; the one in Toledo and the one in Adamuz (Cordoba) last January. "The goal is to recover [the public's] confidence in the train," government sources insist.

Major surprise in Congress. The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has announced his resignation live, although it will not become effective until his final dismissal is published. He also announced that he will not be part of the PSOE's electoral lists for November 29th. "Out of political dignity, coherence, and empathy for the victims [of the train accident]," said Puente, visibly moved. The head of Transport announced this after appearing at his own request to give an account, precisely, of the tragic train accident in Urda, in the province of Toledo, which has left 69 victims dead, while at the same time opening a crisis of confidence in the railway and high-speed rail in the State. Sources from the Spanish government defend that he has carried out an exercise of "political responsibility". "He stood up and faced it," they reiterate.

In the end, there were no riots or incidents in Barcelona on Saturday afternoon. But that doesn't mean nothing happened. The deployment of the Mossos and the Guàrdia Urbana was very visible, and it had been announced so far in advance that it surely deterred potential rioters. The identification of young people was constant and numerous. Most shops in the Gran Via - Passeig de Gràcia area were either closed or had their windows protected with wooden panels, and all of them without exception had security guards at the door. It was a strange afternoon, with people dressed for Halloween oblivious to everything, people in Barça shirts going to the Camp Nou, tourists, and many fewer people than a typical Saturday afternoon.

The unbearable frivolity of Minister Óscar Puente has lamentably marked the narrative and the debate regarding the terrible Urda train accident. His appearance on the first day as the government spokesperson—in accordance with his position—laid him bare. His entire speech revolved around one idea: attributing responsibility for the tragedy to a human error by the person in charge of the Atocha control center, who gave the order to the AVE train driver to start in normal mode. Consciously or unconsciously, the worst of politicking came from his soul: facing an extreme situation by looking for a culprit to pin the blame on. And failing to realize that with this frivolity, he was only further complicating the situation.

I hear Minister Puente's explanations and, as much as they might interest me, I cannot help but receive them as a distant litany that neither informs me nor, even less, comforts me. Because the damage is already done. Because there have already been 116 deaths on Spanish trains this year. Because since his first reaction of pointing the finger at the control center operator only hours after the accident (an accusation reinforced at night with the leaking of the audios), the minister can keep giving data, but I only hear excuses with which he tries to shed as much responsibility as he can.

The Minister of Transport spent two hours this noon answering technical questions about Wednesday's tragic train accident in Toledo which, for the moment, has left 69 people dead. Óscar Puente has guaranteed that he is only obsessed with resolving the crisis, that he has not thought for a moment about the general elections on November 29, and that he has no intention of resigning. "My way of being responsible is by facing the music," he stressed. Sources close to the minister explain that he has placed his position at the disposal of Pedro Sánchez and that the Spanish president has asked him to stay because it would be an "unfair" resignation. Immersed in the electoral context, Puente's figure could harm socialist options, and the same sources admit that he will hardly be a visible face in the campaign.

At the time of the morning that I am speaking to you, Minister Óscar Puente has not yet appeared, who has called a press conference in Urda. The still-minister Puente, we should say, because he should have already resigned. To demand his resignation, the three fatal accidents this year, with a total toll of 116 deaths, would be enough. But today it is even more evident what we perceived on the first day, at Puente's first press conference: the desire to shirk any blame and point the finger at the control center operator. It was not enough for him to point it out on the first day, but yesterday he leaked the audio of the conversations between the control center and the drivers of the trains that collided, in an attempt to reinforce the idea that it was all due to human error. If a single person can cause a tragedy like this, it is because everything is poorly set up. If Puente's railway management was superb, the informative management of the accident has been indecent. Sánchez must know what he is doing, but this third tragedy (Adamuz, Gelida, Urda), if they insist on saying that it is a worker's fault, will sweep them away electorally.

When such a terrible accident occurs as the one in Los Yébenes, in Toledo, and previously the one in Adamuz, a commotion and social alarm are produced that are so high that there is a tendency to seek quick answers where there are none. Experts point out that accidents are always multi-causal, and that it is not always easy to find a concrete explanation for them. In any case, two levels must always be distinguished. First, it is necessary to identify the error or the chain of errors that led to the misfortune. And second, to analyze the underlying causes that made the error possible.

The tragic accident in Toledo has placed the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, under scrutiny. And as the hours pass, the pressure for him to provide explanations about the causes of the accident grows even more, as do the voices demanding he take responsibility. In fact, it has been the far-right that has bluntly called for the minister's resignation and has also filed a lawsuit against him. However, criticism is also coming from the parties that are still part of the coalition government, and the Broad Front has demanded explanations from Puente. For now, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, maintains confidence in the Minister of Transport, according to Moncloa sources who explained to Efe that they believe the train accident has nothing to do with his management. Puente will appear next Tuesday before the Permanent Deputation of Congress to explain himself. But the PP is not satisfied and also wants Sánchez to explain, having requested that he appear as well.

We have been talking about nothing but the train accident in Toledo for 24 hours now, where 68 people have died as of yesterday, for the moment. So I take all the preliminaries as read. Political consequences: trains in Toledo, where 68 people have died as of yesterday, for the moment. So I take all the preliminaries as read. Political consequences: Óscar Puente cannot continue to be minister of Transport for even one more minute. This year 2026, 115 people have been killed on Spanish trains: 46 in Andalusia, 1 in Gelida and 68 in Toledo. And one accident is a tragedy. Three accidents with 115 deaths are not just three tragedies. They are the system.

Two railway accidents in Spain in the same year that add up to more than 100 deaths are "unacceptable". The assessment was made this Wednesday by the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, after the tragedy in Toledo. Under normal circumstances, an "unacceptable" event should lead to significant decisions. And, just as it happened after the Adamuz accident, all eyes are once again focused on the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, who for the time being has no intention of resigning. "I am not thinking about myself," he explained this Wednesday to guarantee that he is fully focused on "clarifying the facts and trying to resolve the situation." How will he get out of this one?