Spain • • • 🌿 Progressive

Tren de alta velocidad circulando al atardecer por una vía española junto a un pueblo de Toledo
Imagen generada para EPM

Vox takes Óscar Puente to the Supreme Court over Urda crash

A complaint filed on Thursday before the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court attributes to Transport Minister Óscar Puente alleged homicide and injuries…

--- The context --- The railway accident on Wednesday near Urda, in Toledo, reached the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court on Thursday, 29 October, through a criminal complaint against the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente. The complaint includes as background the accidents at Adamuz, in Córdoba, where 46 people died, and at Gelida, in Barcelona, where a train driver died, together with the warnings raised after both events. --- The facts --- According to the filing, Puente is accused of alleged offences of homicide and injuries through gross negligence, by commission through omission, in connection with the Urda accident. The argument rests on possible failures in the duties of direction, control and supervision over railway safety. The complaint does not attribute to the minister the order to resume train circulation, and it acknowledges that the causes of the accident have not yet been officially determined. Among the steps requested is that Puente give a statement as a person under investigation, a request the Supreme Court has not yet granted. The filing also asks that seven measures still in process on 16 October be identified, and that compliance be checked with the 9 February agreement with trade unions to strengthen maintenance, staffing and safety. --- The positions --- The party argues that it is necessary to clarify what information Puente received, or should have demanded, what measures he promoted after the warnings and how he verified them. It asks that the investigation cover the department's supervision as a whole. The filing records that on Wednesday another complaint was presented against Adif officials with responsibilities for circulation and safety, and asks the Supreme Court to obtain those proceedings to coordinate the cases. --- What remains unknown --- There is no Supreme Court ruling yet on admission or on summoning Puente. The causes are not officially known either, so the statement, the reports and the independent expert examination remain requested steps, not agreed ones. --- Unanswered questions --- Will the Supreme Court admit the complaint and summon Puente as a person under investigation? What information and alerts reached the Ministry and Adif before the Urda accident? What was the state of the seven measures still in process on 16 October, and how much of the 9 February agreement had been fulfilled? --- EPM analysis --- The complaint moves accountability over the chain of supervision into the courts. Its strength will depend on concrete documents: reports, alerts, protocols for protection failures and prior actions. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, what matters most in this complaint is not its filing but what it can prove about railway supervision before Urda. If the reports, the alerts and the follow-up to the 9 February agreement show warnings without a sufficient response, political responsibility will also become a judicial question. If, instead, the documents prove real controls and measures under way, the filing will remain an accusation without a path forward. That is why the investigation must be complete, independent and based on verifiable records.
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