Carlos Cuerpo takes over Spain's Transport ministry after Puente quits

Carlos Cuerpo, Spain's first deputy prime minister and Economy minister, took charge of the Transport ministry in early November 2026. He stepped in after Óscar Puente resigned following the high-speed train collision near Urda, in the province of Toledo, on 28 October, which killed around 70 people and became the deadliest accident in the history of Spanish high-speed rail.

The arrangement was interim. According to the official state gazette (BOE), Cuerpo was given only the routine handling of the department's business, and government sources said he would not take a formal oath before the King because the assumption of duties was temporary. The head of Adif, the state rail infrastructure manager, also submitted his resignation to him.

The handover came as pressure on the ministry was already high. Unions had criticised the government's handling of the crash, and rail workers were weighing industrial action. Cuerpo, an economist and one of the government's most senior figures, inherited the task of restoring confidence in the rail network and dealing with the labour dispute, which later led to strikes by train drivers.