The Ministry of Transport will investigate and review all the actions of directors, technicians and workers of different ranks from Renfe and Adif who participated in the controversial contract for the 31 metric gauge trains for Cantabria and Asturias whose initial design was configured with erroneous measurements. The head of the department, Raquel Sánchez, has already signed the internal order to activate this internal audit and “refine responsibilities”.
After the first two dismissals, in Transport they do not rule out more dismissals over the next few weeks. The minister and the Secretary of State, Isabel Pardo de Vera, want “to have more information on the management of the train purchase contract and avoid repeating the errors that are relevant,” explains the department in charge of infrastructures.
It will be the General Directorate of Organization and Inspection, under the Undersecretary of Transport, who will carry out this investigation. It is the body in charge of the general inspection of the department’s services and its mission will be to transfer this work to Renfe and Adif for the contract of the convoys that will not arrive until at least 2026.
“This audit will cover the review of all the actions carried out by the different bodies and entities attached to the department that have participated in the preparation, tender, award proposal, award and execution of the contract,” says Transport. As a first step, a multidisciplinary work team will be set up as soon as possible, with a flexible composition depending on the development and needs of the audit.
The Government has already made a commitment to the presidents of Cantabria, Miguel Ángel Revilla, and Asturias, Adrián Barbón, to make the necessary human, material and financial resources available to the project so that the trains are operational as soon as possible.
A working group led by the Ministry has also been set up to monitor the design and manufacture of the new metric gauge units. The group, which held its first meeting last Wednesday, is made up of Mitma, Renfe, Adif, the State Agency for Railway Safety and the affected regional governments.
