Trains are also arriving late to the railway sector's protest

MadridWith fifteen minutes to go before the protest called by railway unions in front of the Ministry of Transport, a group of demonstrators traveling from Tarragona were still 60 kilometers from Madrid. Victims of their own crisis, the problems plaguing the high-speed rail line between the Catalan and Spanish capitals prevented them from reaching the demonstration. Finally, some 300 people—many wearing fluorescent vests—made their presence felt at Nuevos Ministerios, the complex of buildings that houses the headquarters of five ministries, including the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, headed by Óscar Puente. The flags of the six unions that had converged there—red, black, green, white, and blue—waved, creating a cross-section of the entire "railway family." Workers from Renfe, Iryo, and Ouigo shared the space with workers from Adif. These are the companies at the center of the storm following the Adamuz and Gelida accidents and the commuter rail chaos. "This must mark a turning point, a watershed moment," says Pepa Páez, general secretary of the CCOO railway sector, from the stage. "We cannot allow ourselves to normalize what is not normal, we cannot resign ourselves to the railway functioning on a patchwork of solutions," she adds. Noelia Martín, from the CGT, agrees and believes that the recent accidents are not "isolated incidents," but rather "another symptom of the chronic illness" afflicting trains in Spain. And Diego Martín, general secretary of the Spanish Union of Railway Drivers (Semaf), demands immediate changes and a "review of the sector and all its measures," lamenting the insufficient effort dedicated to maintaining the rail network.

Solidarity with the users

Among the attendees, there's a mixed message. The lack of maintenance compromises safety, but the trains themselves remain safe. And it's a point that more than one speaker emphasizes. Two of the demands, for example, are establishing safety protocols and increasing staffing levels. "We're not facing a railway safety problem, it's a problem of insufficient investment and poor planning," protests Pepa Páez. And she sends a message of solidarity with the passengers: "Their anger is understandable and their concern is logical, but we railway workers are on their side." Along these lines, Diana Murciano, a Renfe crew member and representative of the CGT union, acknowledges that the public's "outrage" leads to "nervousness" among the workers, and she calls on all parties involved: "They must engage in self-criticism to see what's going wrong; it implicates the entire political class."

One of the attendees is Francisco Cárdenas Pons, head of Renfe for the UGT union in Catalonia. For him, Adif is to blame for everything: "They're at odds with everyone." He holds them responsible for the deterioration of the tracks and the lack of investment. "It's not us, we're above them," he argues in statements to ARA. But this diagnosis isn't shared by everyone. Sergio, from the Railway Traffic Union, focuses on the trains: "The rolling stock is old and has many problems." If you add to that the state of the infrastructure, it's a "never-ending cycle," he asserts.