In some cases, being a bit off on measurements isn’t that big of a deal. In this instance, that couldn’t be further from the truth as two officials resigned when it was discovered that the new trains they ordered were too big to fit through many tunnels around the region.
Spain’s secretary of state for transport and the head of the state rail company have resigned for the unusual reason that a number of trains ordered for two northern Spanish regions were too big to fit through some tunnels.
Ordering new transportation to fit within a country’s system requires years of planning and this project began around three years ago. Back in January 2023, it was determined that the trains, ordered for hundreds of millions of dollars, would be too wide.
Miguel Ángel Revilla, the regional president of Cantabria, described the project as a “bodge” and called for urgent action. Adrián Barbón, the president of neighbouring Asturias, said he was “baffled, angry and disappointed” by the mistake.
Two senior officials were fired last month but that wasn’t enough for Isabel Pardo de Vera, Spain’s secretary of state for transport, to stay on the job. He and Isaías Táboas, the president of Renfe, both resigned over the situation as well.