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Spain's Transport Minister Óscar Puente announced his resignation on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, at the end of a hearing before the Permanent Deputation of the Congress of Deputies in Madrid.
"A transport minister in a country like Spain cannot remain in office after two accidents of this severity in less than a year," he said, adding that this applied whether or not he bore direct responsibility. He said he decided to resign within minutes of learning of the Urda crash but stayed on to oversee the emergency response, the start of investigations, and initial victim aid and safety measures.
He also withdrew from the PSOE candidate lists for the early general election on November 29, 2026, for which he had been the party's lead candidate for Valladolid.
The trigger was the high-speed collision on October 28, 2026, near Urda, in Toledo province, on the Madrid–Seville line, when a state-run Renfe AVE train ran into the back of a stationary private Iryo train. Sixty-nine people were killed and around 200 injured; all 69 victims have been identified, 40 men and 29 women.
It was Spain's second deadly rail disaster in less than a year: a derailment near Adamuz, Córdoba, in January 2026 killed 46 people. Together, the two crashes killed 115 people. The Urda crash is Spain's deadliest rail disaster since 2013 and one of the worst in Europe this century.
On the same day as his resignation, Puente announced a €30 million aid package for victims' families and new safety measures: reduced services on the Madrid–Seville line until the Railway Safety Agency reviews the line's safety system and the delayed European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) rollout is completed, and a requirement for drivers to slow to 40 km/h after a signalling failure.
The investigation remains open, with no final finding. Its focus includes the failure of the LZB train control system on a 63 km stretch and instructions from the Adif control centre in Madrid, which authorised the Renfe train to resume running; investigators estimated the impact speed at 160–200 km/h. Puente had earlier blamed the control-centre decision, while opposition parties and unions criticised him for appearing to pin blame on one control-centre operator. The investigation has not established that the signalling system itself directly caused the collision, and others argue that responsibility must be established through a thorough investigation before blame is assigned.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez praised Puente publicly, thanking him and saying he had put victims first and acted out of political responsibility.
All opposition parties had demanded Puente's resignation, after he had repeatedly ruled it out in the days after the crash.