Unions announce a railway strike in the middle of the election campaign

The Government has decided to anticipate any conclusion about the causes of last Wednesday's accident in Urda, with 69 deaths, and has implemented measures "to minimize risks." At the same time, he has ruled out assuming responsibilities for the loss of confidence in the safety of the railway with no resignation and has encouraged opening a debate on high speed in Spain, specifically with regard to the expansion policy of the 4,000 kilometer network.

The minister, who was facing an appearance before the rest of the parliamentary groups in Congress in the afternoon, has ruled out resigning. "I understand the arguments for asking for my resignation," he began. "I know that some are in good faith but I do not admit it from someone who never assumes responsibilities. Ada Colau does, but Feijóo does not. I have only told facts. I have not decided or omitted anything in relation to this damage and I have responded without hiding," he later justified.

The unions present in the infrastructure manager, who have requested intervention in this company due to the "risks" that its management is posing, have responded with the call for a strike on November 17. Last weekend they requested the precautionary intervention of the State Railway Safety Agency (AESF) in Adif to take urgent measures to reduce speed. The loss of confidence in the infrastructure manager is more than evident internally since the tragedy in Adamuz (Córdoba), when they already asked for the resignation of President Pedro Marco de la Peña. "The CGE of Renfe, at the expense of official confirmation, will call the same actions on the same days. UGT will transfer the same dates to the rest of the companies in the Railway sector to achieve a sectoral strike," this union has announced. The general company committee includes the representatives of the almost 14,000 Adif workers, where the majority union is CCOO. The workers want to join this call to another previous one from the machinists' union Semaf, although there is no agreement yet.

The strike would be the second in nine months and would take place in the middle of the campaign for the November 29 elections, specifically 12 days before the polls.

Puente has not specified when the new measures will come into force. It has announced one that affects the Regulation Control Centers (CRC) with which Adif provides a layer of security to traffic when automatic signaling systems fail. The Council of Ministers has approved that communications and instructions from the CRCs be shared and signed by two people, instead of one, although it has not specified how this decision will be executed. The Madrid - Seville line registered 170 incidents of this type until October, although the companies and workers who make this route believe there are more. Only Iryo registered 104 in the same period indicated by the Government.

In addition, the number of trains running on the Madrid - Seville line will be reduced. "The initial idea is to reduce capacity as little as possible, with trains in double composition to resume providing the service with maximum reliability," he said, as a preventive measure until the new ERTMS signaling system is installed and comes into operation, replacing the current LZB, whose failure triggered the sequence of errors that ended in the train collision in Urda.