Spain Minister Defends Rail Crash Response Before Snap Election
Spain's transport minister defends the Toledo high-speed rail crash response, citing human error, as the death toll reaches 69 weeks before a snap election.
The story in focus
Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente has defended the government's handling of the Toledo high-speed rail collision, in which 69 bodies were recovered, attributing preliminary indications to human error after a controller cleared a stalled train to advance toward another train ahead. The crash comes nine months after a Cordoba-area collision killed 46 people.
- 69 bodies were recovered from the Toledo high-speed rail collision in central Spain, BBC News reported.
- Transport Minister Oscar Puente said preliminary indications pointed to human error and rejected claims of chronic infrastructure underinvestment.
- A controller cleared a stalled train to advance at up to 160km/h even though a second train was stuck ahead, Puente said.
- The crash occurred nine months after a collision near Cordoba killed 46 people.
- Polls cited by the BBC showed the centre-right People's Party ahead, with the far-right Vox as a likely coalition partner.
Government response and crash details
BBC News reported that Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente appeared before the press for a second time to present what he described as the objective facts of the Toledo high-speed rail crash, in which 69 bodies were recovered from wreckage in central Spain.
Puente said preliminary indications pointed to human error. According to the minister, a controller instructed a stalled train to restart and cleared it to advance at up to 160km/h even though a second train was stuck on the line ahead. Audio calls and screens in the Madrid control centre showed the impending collision, but the advancing train was never ordered to stop.
Puente rejected suggestions of chronic underinvestment and said Spain's LZB high-speed signalling system was neither old nor inadequate, noting it had failed 170 times this year, which he called normal and around the EU average. The opposition People's Party has called for his resignation.
Political context and public confidence
The formal investigation into the Toledo disaster has only just been launched. BBC News reported the crash came nine months after two trains collided near Cordoba, killing 46 people, with that investigation still open and initial reports suggesting a crack in the rails.
The collision occurred weeks before the snap general election called by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Recent polls cited by the BBC showed the centre-right PP coming first and forming a coalition with the far-right Vox. Pollster Paco Camas of Ipsos told the BBC the crash damages confidence in railways and institutions.
Small protests led by far-right groups took place in Madrid, and police were on standby ahead of potential further clashes.
How many people died in the Toledo high-speed rail collision?
BBC News reported that 69 bodies were recovered after the Toledo high-speed rail collision in central Spain, which occurred nine months after a separate collision near Cordoba killed 46 people.
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