Puente will appear at 11:30 to talk about the accident in Urda

Puente, the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, will hold a press conference at 11:30 AM at his ministry to discuss the rail accident that occurred in Urda, Toledo on Wednesday. The accident resulted in the deaths of 69 people after an Iryo train was hit by an AVE train from Renfe while both were headed towards Sevilla. The press conference comes unexpectedly, as no mention of Puente's appearance was found in the government's schedule for Friday.

The news comes after the Autonomous Administrative Authority for Technical Investigation of Rail, Maritime and Aviation Civil Incidents (AITAT) concluded that all hypotheses regarding the accident's causes remain open. The authority stated that further explanations cannot be given based on the data at hand, as the investigation is still in its early stages. The final report will be released at the appropriate time.

AITAT opened the investigation on Thursday and classified the incident as a "grave" category. The collision occurred at 8:53 AM at kilometer point 118+800 on the high-speed Line 010 Madrid-Sevilla, near Urda station. The Iryo train, carrying 147 passengers and five crew members, was stationary at the entrance signal when it was hit by the AVE train, which had 379 passengers and seven crew members on board.

The impact caused the head of the AVE train to be wedged at the tail of the Iryo train, with both vehicles overturning and lying on the ground level of the track. The rest of the AVE train was completely derailed, with the last six coaches and the seventh one falling onto the ground. Coach 3 was also pierced by a fragment of the track that had been bent during the impact.

The Iryo train, aside from the damaged tail coach, had all its coaches derailed except for the first two, which fell onto the ground. The AITAT has inspected the collision site, infrastructure, and damaged vehicles, as well as reviewed phone call records and communications recordings from the moment of the collision. They have expressed gratitude for the collaboration of emergency services and security forces present at the scene, and offered their condolences to the victims and their families.