President of Spain’s state rail operator Renfe, Isaías Táboas has forced to resign on Monday due to an order of commuter trains that are too wide to fit through some tunnels.
The controversy derived from the dimensions of the trains designed for the Asturias and Cantabria tracks -incompatible with part of the narrow gauge tunnels- has forced the resignation of the president of Renfe, Isaías Táboas, as well as the Secretary of State for Transport, Isabel Pardo de Vera, who held the position of president of state-owned railway company Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF) when the order was carried out.
The Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, formally accepted the resignation of both after several weeks in which the controversy has grown.
Renfe in June 2020 ordered 31 commuter trains worth €258 million from Spanish firm CAF for the mountainous northern regions of Asturias and Cantabria.
But in March 2021, CAF realized that the dimensions it was provided for the trains were not correct and stopped building the trains which would have been too wide for some tunnels.
The governments of Cantabria and Asturias 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.
Source: Heraldo
