Madrid: Spain's transport minister announced Tuesday that he was stepping down, six days after a high-speed train collision south of Madrid killed 69 people.
Transport Minister Óscar Puente made the announcement at the end of an hours-long appearance before lawmakers about the crash — the second deadly collision this year involving Spain's extensive high-speed rail network.
“A transport minister in a country like Spain cannot continue in his post after two accidents in less than a year,” Puente told lawmakers. “It's a question of political dignity, coherence and empathy with the victims.”
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The October 28 crash occurred when a high-speed train slammed into another train that had stopped on the tracks. The chain of events leading to the disaster began when the communication system essential to the functioning of the security system on the Madrid-Seville line went down. Central controllers in Madrid took over and gave the go-ahead for one train to proceed, even though a stationary train was ahead.
It was the second major crash on the Madrid-Seville line this year. In January, more than two hours further south along the route, a train derailed and struck another travelling in the opposite direction, killing 46 people. That crash remains under investigation.
The collisions have raised fresh concerns about the safety of the country's rail network. The most recent crash came four weeks before a national election.
Spain's high-speed rail network has been considered one of the country's crowning achievements. It is the world's second-largest, after China's. Until this year, it had not experienced a deadly crash since coming into service more than three decades ago.
Earlier Tuesday, Puente announced additional safety measures the government would implement across the rail network, including improving conditions in control centres and pushing for a faster rollout of the standardised European Rail Traffic Management System for safety and signalling.
