Spanish Transport Minister resigns after Urda disaster

Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente announced his resignation on November 3, after more than four hours of testimony before the Diputación Permanente of the Congress, following the Urda rail disaster that caused at least 69 deaths. This was reported by El País.

Puente also withdrew from leading the PSOE list for Valladolid in the elections of November 29, 2026, a role he was due to take on in the coming weeks. According to El País, the minister linked his decision to two serious rail accidents occurring within less than a year, with a combined death toll of 116 victims in nine months.

The following day, November 4, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility will be managed on a transitional basis by Carlos Cuerpo, as reported by RTVE in its coverage of the prime minister’s institutional statement.

The resignation comes as the Urda disaster remains at the center of public debate in Spain: the collision between the Renfe and Iryo trains on the Madrid-Seville line marked one of the gravest days for the country’s rail network, and Puente’s decision to also withdraw his election candidacy marks a clear break between the political management of the ministry and the aftermath of the case.

The transitional management entrusted to Cuerpo now opens a period of uncertainty over who will be the ministry’s next permanent head, at a time when the Spanish government must simultaneously handle the institutional consequences of the accident and the late-November electoral calendar.