The Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, has accepted the resignations this Monday of the president of Renfe and the Secretary of State for Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda.
Isaías Táboas and Isabel Pardo de Vera have presented their resignation after the protests of the governments of Cantabria and Asturias for the project that proposed the construction of trains, destined for those Communities, which did not fit through the tunnels. They will be replaced by the General Secretary for Housing, David Lucas, and by Raúl Blanco, General Secretary for Industry, who left his position last December after the failure of the Automotive Part. Like his predecessor at Renfe, Blanco is a member of the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC).
The problem of the gauges in the Adif tunnels and the trains commissioned by the railway operator was known a year and a half ago in the ministry led by Raquel Sánchez, although it was not until a month ago when the problems of a project that has a cost of almost 260 million euros.
Sánchez had already demanded responsibility from both Renfe and Adif, which a few weeks ago dismissed both charges as responsible for the lack of understanding. The crisis began in 2019 when -while Isabel Pardo de vera was still president of Adif- Renfe published a contract to acquire 31 metric gauge trains (narrow gauge) and renew the commuter network fleet. The contract was awarded to CAF for 258 million euros but the manufacturer warned of the contradictions between the conditions and the railway network.
From that moment on, the exchange of accusations between the infrastructure manager and the railway operator has been constant. Raquel Sánchez, admitted on February 6 that the ministry does not have the final design of a train that will fit through the tunnels, but that it hopes to have it "approximately in summer" to then outline a production and delivery schedule.
The result, according to government sources, is not cost-effective, because the 31 trains had not yet been manufactured, but a considerable delay of up to three years. Trains that were expected by the end of this year may arrive no earlier than 2026.
Finally, the crisis has resulted in the Solomonic resignation of two of the heavyweights of the Ministry of Transport, which, in the opinion of sources inside the ministry, is a decision that exceeds the expectations that had been generated. Raquel Sánchez dispenses with Pardo de Vera, her right hand in the ministry and a highly qualified senior position with a whole series of projects pending execution. Pardo de Vera chaired Adif at the time the project was awarded and the fact that his head rolled is explained by this circumstance.
In the case of Táboas, his resignation is that of a representative of the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC) with extensive experience in the area of Transport since he took over this responsibility in the Generalitat during the presidency of José Montilla and went on to occupy different positions in the Ministry of Development in the presidency of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
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