Montero asks to apply article 128 to renationalize the railway and demands the resignation of Óscar Puente

The MEP and head of the Podemos list for the general elections, Irene Montero, called this Monday to reverse the liberalization of the railway sector and apply article 128 of the Constitution to regain public control of the system, taking the experience of the United Kingdom as a reference. The political leader stated after a meeting with representatives of the CGT Federal Railway Sector that basing transportation on private business "is endangering the safety of users."

During the meeting with the union representation of Renfe, Adif, train drivers and control center personnel, the former minister stressed that the root of the system's incidents lies in the current organizational and management structure. In this sense, he stated before the media that "in addition to the resignation of the minister, which is a social consensus that he must resign, the underlying issue here is liberalization."

The head of Podemos has explicitly denounced that strategic areas related to prevention, supervision, maintenance and signaling are outsourced in favor of private capital. As detailed, the signaling systems of the affected section correspond to the companies Hitachi and Siemens, while the comprehensive maintenance and infrastructure tasks are entrusted to large construction firms, among which he cited ACS, Sacyr, Ferrovial and Acciona.

Montero has questioned the ability of these corporations to prioritize security investments when they collide with the search for commercial economic margin. Before the appearance of Minister Óscar Puente in the Permanent Deputation of Congress, the representative of the purple formation has urged the Executive to stop holding the operators responsible and focus the explanations on the role assigned to private contracts and the real volume of fees charged to operators.