Spain train disaster clouds Sánchez chances of re-election
A deadly high-speed rail collision near Toledo that killed 69 people has deepened a string of crises for Pedro Sánchez's Socialist-led government just weeks before a snap general election it was already expected to lose.
BBC World
Spain is reeling from a second major rail disaster in less than a year after a high-speed train collision south of Madrid left 69 people dead, with wreckage strewn across the tracks and down an embankment near Toledo. The crash comes just nine months after two trains collided near Cordoba, killing 46, and lands weeks before the snap general election called by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
A formal investigation into the Toledo disaster has only just begun, but the government has moved quickly to shape the narrative. Transport Minister Oscar Puente began suggesting within hours that "human error" was to blame, and on Friday he appeared before the press for a second time to present what he called the "objective facts" of the crash amid a surge of criticism of the government.
The opposition People's Party (PP) is among those demanding his resignation as a "moral" and "ethical" gesture. Puente, after expressing "huge pain and sadness" for the victims, instead went on the offensive. He rejected suggestions of chronic underinvestment and defended the LZB high-speed signalling system as neither old nor inadequate, noting that Germany and Austria use the same technology. He revealed the system had failed 170 times in Spain so far this year, but called that "normal" and roughly the EU average.
The key issue, he said, is what happens when the system fails and control shifts to manual. In this case, he highlighted a chain of human errors: a controller instructed a stalled train to restart and clear it to advance at up to 160km/h (100 mph) even though a second train was stuck on the line ahead. The impending collision was visible on audio calls and large screens in the Madrid control centre. "They worked. We checked. They could see what was happening," Puente confirmed, but the advancing train was never ordered to stop. "I'm no judge... But these are the facts." Asked whether he would resign, he said it was his "duty" to remain, adding: "I'll face up to things, explain, elucidate. I'll think how to improve the system."
Analysts say the crash compounds a spiral of crises for the government. Allegations of corruption involving the prime minister's close relatives, all denied, have persisted, as has public anger over housing costs. A sudden influx of migrants from Morocco to the Spanish exclave of Ceuta this summer drew accusations of incompetence and underfunding from the right, and a viral video of a pensioner being forcibly evicted from her home sparked street protests shortly before Sánchez called the early election.
The death of Maricarmen Abascal, evicted from her home of more than 70 years, had already fuelled widespread housing protests across Spain. "This is not only a very serious accident, but the second in a very short time," said Paco Camas of the pollster Ipsos. The investigation into January's crash in Adamuz, near Cordoba, remains open, with initial reports suggesting a crack in the rails. "It destroys people's confidence not only in the railways but institutions in general. And in Spain when such things happen, we know that people blame their government," Camas warned.
Sánchez's prospects looked slim even before the crash. Prof Pablo Simon of Madrid's Carlos III University said polls show the centre-right PP winning most seats and forming a coalition with the far-right Vox. "They have this majority in almost 95% of the simulations we have done," he explained. Sánchez had been running a positive campaign aimed at luring apathetic voters, but Simon said the Socialists have "totally lost control of the agenda and the emotion of this campaign," describing a general mood of national decay. "It's going to be extremely difficult now."
Tensions are rising on the streets. Small protests over the train crash led by far-right groups have taken place in Madrid, and large numbers of police are on stand-by this weekend ahead of further potential clashes organised online. In Toledo the mood is nervous. "We all travelled in silence and really sad," said Paloma, who arrived at the city station on a half-empty train. "This crash will change all of our votes, completely. We'll shift from the left wing to the right. Because of everything that's happened."
Lucia, who commutes daily to Madrid on the high-speed AVE, said she was frightened too. "This was human error. But there's been two accidents now with more than 100 dead. Things here are really bad. They have to change."