The Spanish Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility dismissed the president of Adif and Adif AV, Ángel Contreras, this afternoon. He had only been in his post for nine and a half months.
According to ministerial sources consulted by El Independiente, the dismissal is part of a restructuring of Adif’s organisational structure. What other positions will be vacated and who will replace Contreras are not yet known.
However, since his alleged involvement in the Koldo corruption case came to light, Ángel Contreras has been under the shadow of that case. Apparently, as ADIF’s director general for conservation and maintenance (a post he had between 2018 and 2023), he was able to broker the purchase of masks from the scheme.
However, Contreras himself denied his involvement in statements made to the Senate Commission of Inquiry. He said that he “did not have the authority to do so” and that his relationship with Koldo García was a “social relationship”.
Ángel Contreras, less than a year at the helm of an Adif facing serious conservation and maintenance problems
The sacking also comes after a new day of chaos on the railways, following a derailment at Barcelona Sants station at 6.30 a.m. that has hindered or prevented many high-speed trains from running.
At the other end of the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed line, at Puerta de Atocha station, a computer failure at the CTC at around 13:00 caused the track equipment to stop working for two hours and twenty-five minutes.
In recent months there has been an increase in infrastructure incidents on both the high-speed and conventional networks.
Adif workers admitted to Trenvista for the report on the problems of the Madrid Cercanías network. Maintenance is inadequate. As is the number of staff assigned to it and other important jobs, such as rail traffic control.
These same sources, as well as the company’s official sources, are aware that there has been an increase in maintenance, but for the time being this is not enough.
Will this renewal of top management be the necessary revulsion for the RFIG to move towards normality with fewer incidents?
