Body dismisses the president of Renfe close to Puente to try to appease the unrest in the sector and recovers Joaquim Hortalà to direct Adif

The earthquake caused by the Urda tragedy continues to take its toll on those responsible for railway management. At the extraordinary council of ministers this Friday, the Government has dismissed Álvaro Fernández Heredia as president of Renfe and has elected Inmaculada Gutiérrez Carrizo, general director of Renfe Proyectos Internacional, as his replacement. The decision puts an end to the period of the director chosen by Óscar Puente in January 2025 and completes the replacement of the railway leadership.

Vice President Carlos Body, who provisionally took over Transport after Puente's resignation, is thus carrying out a remodeling in the midst of a security crisis and 16 days before the elections. The termination comes just over two weeks after a Renfe AVE hit an Iryo stopped near Urda (Toledo), with 69 deaths. It was the second major railway tragedy of the year, after Adamuz, which left 46 dead.

Fernández Heredia, a civil engineer and doctor in Transport Infrastructure, had arrived at Renfe from the General Secretariat of Sustainable Mobility. Before he directed the public buses of Madrid and Valladolid. Puente entrusted him with an operator punished by incidents and delays, and subject to high-speed competition from Iryo and Ouigo.

Its continuity had been complicated in recent days by the confrontation with the train drivers. The Semaf strike on Tuesday hit Cercanías and Rodalies and aggravated tensions between management and the collective. Just yesterday he was negotiating with the Secretary of State José Antonio Santano and the unions to try to avoid new mobilizations, called for November 17 and 23. Today he leaves his position.

The person chosen to replace him, Inmaculada Gutiérrez Carrizo, belongs to the Higher Body of Commercial Technicians and State Economists. With a degree in Economics from the Complutense University, she has been a member of the Competition Defense Court, a counselor in the competition body and economic and commercial counselor of Spain in the United States. The Government highlights its regulatory experience and its management of international projects. Its profile is more economic than technical-operational.

The other appointment of the day introduces a paradox. The new president of Adif, Joaquim Hortalà i Vallvé, was general secretary of Renfe until July. State Attorney, he passed through the CNMC and the FROB before joining the operator. According to EL MUNDO, he abandoned his previous responsibility after disagreements with Fernández Heredia's team. Now he returns to the first line of the railway to replace Luis Pedro Marco de la Peña, who resigned after Urda.