SPAIN’s minister for transport and sustainable mobility, Óscar Puente, has announced an increase in government funding for infrastructure maintenance and other measures to improve safety on the national network, following a series of major accidents in recent weeks.
The increased spending is contained in an agreement that Puente signed on February 10 with rail unions SEMAF, UGT and CCOO, which have now called off industrial action. Demanding that the safety and reliability of the network should be guaranteed, drivers’ union SEMAF announced a general strike across the rail sector on January 21.
This followed derailments caused by severe weather at Maçanet and Gelida in Catalonia, the latter killing a trainee driver on January 20. Two members of staff were amongst the 45 fatalities resulting from the derailment at Adamuz on the Madrid - Seville high-speed line on January 18, where a broken rail is the focus of the ongoing accident investigation.
Puente has announced that the government will sign new funding agreements for 2026-2030 with infrastructure manager Adif and its high-speed counterpart Adif AV. Adif will receive €861m for maintenance in 2026, with this amount increasing to reach €1.18bn in 2030.
The new funding agreement with Adif AV will see spending on maintenance increase by 44% between 2025 and 2030, maintaining an upward trajectory and in line with the company’s target to break even, according to the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility.
Staff numbers at Adif will increase by 2400 in 2026-2030, equivalent to around an additional 480 posts a year. It has been agreed that the next national budget will make provision for a staff replacement rate of no less than 115%.
A total of 50 new posts will be created at State Railway Safety Agency (AESF), which is to receive increased resources. Measures will be undertaken to attract and retain talent, with a particular focus on strengthening supervision.
The government has also agreed to establish within a month a committee to coordinate shared safety management, which will include rail union representatives. Working groups will also be created to monitor temporary speed restrictions on the network and weather alerts.
“This is an important agreement for continuing to improve the Spanish railway system and ensuring its present and future competitiveness,” Puente says.
