The roar of the wrecked trains and the pain of the relatives who have left behind loved ones with a path of half-finished dreams to fulfill has returned our gaze to the railway tracks as the shadows of corruption once again fly over the Transport crisis. But some of the cracks that the ministry faces today opened away from the rails.
The Urda tragedy, preceded by that of Adamuz just nine months earlier, has added the most painful dimension to a situation that accumulates unresolved questions. There is a long list of unknowns that come together in the scrutiny of Óscar Puente’s permanence and that they could hide the reason that would explain, in turn, what has happened for hundreds of people to lose their lives on train tracks and for Spain to stop being the mirror where the world once looked at itself as an example to follow in the field of railways.
The first of them, financing. Spain continues to operate with the General State Budget for 2023, although extended. Without financing there is no investment and without investment there is no technological renewal, conservation or capacity to respond to incidents.
The second of them is that The National Court investigates different public works contracts awarded by Óscar Puente’s portfolio – although at the time when José Luis Ábalos headed the ministry and when Santos Cerdán continued to be a “strong man” in the PSOE leadership – for a value that exceeds 500 million euros, suspecting that they could have been “rigged” in exchange for commissions of at least 5 million. The instructor Ismael Moreno investigates, above all, 11 contracting files awarded either by Adif or by the General Directorate of Highways – whose former senior official is accused.
The investigation brought to light that Cerdán owned part of a company (Servinabar) that was the beneficiary of many other public works contracts or payments related to other awards. For example, the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard is investigating the payments that Servinabar received from the file for the expansion of the Centenario Bridge in Seville, awarded for a value of 86.4 million euros, whose price was subsequently increased to reach 137 million euros.
It also revealed that Some of the companies identified in the investigations would have participated in the renovation works of the Adamuz railway section –the High Speed line between Madrid and Seville–, where 46 people died last January. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating, in fact, whether there was fraudulent use of community funds in the adjudication of that file.
There are even other companies that were awarded both railway and highway contracts and that had Ábalos’ former advisor, Koldo García, or his wife on their payroll.
But the judicial story that still keeps part of the Transportation management under suspicion began to take shape around a contract outside the railway: the acquisition of masks during the pandemic. The so-called “Koldo case” revealed that the then Minister of Transport Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García took commissions for awarding the purchase of medical supplies to businessman Víctor de Aldama, who has now become a “checkmate” for the PSOE. The investigation ended with Ábalos and Koldo sentenced to 24 and 19 years in prison respectively by the Supreme Court.
There are also relevant episodes surrounding Puente’s portfolio, such as the hiring of prostitutes in companies dependent on ADIF and even facts unrelated to corruption, but linked to incompetence.
This is the case when, in February 2023, it was learned that Renfe had ordered Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) trains for Cantabria and Asturias that, according to the planned design, could not circulate through some tunnels due to their dimensions. The contract, awarded for 258 million euros, included the renovation of dozens of units.
The failure in the gauges forced the designs to be adapted, delayed deliveries for several years and led to the resignation of those responsible for Renfe and Adif. Although the trains were never manufactured, the error put an investment of hundreds of millions of euros at risk.
However, and while the courts follow the trail of the alleged commissions, Transport faces a question that goes beyond what happened: how to now regain confidence in the management of an infrastructure on which thousands of lives depend.