The controversy derived from the dimensions of the trains designed for the Asturias and Cantabria tracks -incompatible with the narrow gauge tunnels- has forced the resignation of the president of Renfe, Isaías Táboas, as well as the current Secretary of State for Transport, Isabel Pardo de Vera, who was president of Adif when the assignment was made. The Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, formally accepted the resignation of both on Monday after several weeks of controversy over this matter.
The decision, to which this newspaper has had access, came a few hours before the meeting that Minister Sánchez herself was going to hold with the presidents of Cantabria and Asturias, Miguel Ángel Revilla and Adrián Barbón. Both governments have been complaining about the train project for several weeks and they arrived together at their appointment in Madrid to stage the common front they have formed to demand compensation for the fiasco of these contracts, which will cause the 31 new trains that were to arrive this year will be delayed until 2026.
“We come deeply hurt and humiliated,” Revilla said before entering the meeting with Sánchez, without wanting to assess at that moment the resignations of Táboas and Pardo de Vera awaiting the explanations that Minister Sánchez gave them. The president assured that they would request that the Cercanías trains, both Renfe and Feve, be free until the new machines arrive, which was confirmed at the meeting until 2026, the date on which the new trains are expected to arrive.
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The decision of the substitutes by the Ministry of Transport is also relevant, which this Tuesday will become official in the Council of Ministers. Sources from the cabinet led by Raquel Sánchez confirmed that the new Secretary of State for Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda will be David Lucas, until now Secretary General for Housing at the ministry. The appointment of the new president of Renfe stands out, who will be Raúl Blanco, until December Secretary General of Industry and SMEs of the Ministry of Industry, and whom Minister Reyes Maroto had dismissed due to the traffic jam of the Perte managed by her cabinet.
From the Ministry of Transport they explained that this “relay” will allow “to launch a change with which the ministry wants to start a new stage” both in the Secretary of State and in Adif. Minister Sánchez conveyed to Táboas and Pardo de Vera her “acknowledgment and gratitude” for the work carried out over the years in their respective positions. In a press conference after the meeting with the regional presidents, Sánchez assured that since she learned of this “unforeseen event”, she has “left her skin” to solve it. “I have apologized, I acknowledge the error and responsibilities have been cleared up,” she said, while assuring that hard work will be done to speed up the construction of these trains as soon as possible, although she acknowledged that it will be delayed until 2026.
Early 2026
According to their deadlines, this summer the trains will already be designed, which will allow them to start manufacturing at the beginning of 2024 and in the first months of 2026 some will already be in circulation. To alleviate the “frustrated expectations”, Sánchez assured that the process of “conditioning” of the current trains will be reinforced to provide a better service until the new ones arrive.
Cantabria and Asturias worked these weeks on a list of joint demands, which also included speeding up the contract as much as possible for the arrival of the new trains (21 for Cantabria and ten for Asturias), the recovery of the frequencies lost due to the installation of the ASFA security system, as well as a specific calendar for the execution of the Commuter Investment Plan, which in Cantabria alone amounts to 970 million, partly already executed.
A few days ago the ministry published in the BOE an order to specify the rule that will allow the application of the so-called ‘comparative method’ in the design and manufacture of new metric gauge trains for the commuter networks of both communities. In this way, the new trains will be designed based on the measurements of the models that currently circulate on the network so that there are no more errors of this type.
Renfe and Adif already announced in mid-February the dismissal of two heads of both companies due to an error in the dimensions of the trains. However, from some opposition parties they considered that these dismissals were a “make-up” with the aim of avoiding giving more explanations about the loss of more than 250 million euros.