ADIF confirms that Óscar Puente lied when he denied the existence of old rails in Adamuz

Óscar Puente's accusation of "hoax" against the newspaper El Mundo backfires on the socialist minister hours later.

Oscar Puente's tricks in dismissing two true news stories about Adamuz as 'hoaxes'
Adamuz: a government that spread hoaxes about the railway sector is now warning against them

As we saw yesterday, El Mundo published on Sunday: "The Iryo train began to derail from a section of track that had not been renovated and was manufactured in 1989." This publication added: "Adif renovated the area where the Iryo train derailed last Sunday "in sections," and the rail renewal only affected the points. The exact point of rail breakage is the weld between the renewed and old rails." This information exposes the minister's incompetence. Let us recall that hours after the accident, Puente said it occurred on "a completely renovated track".

Yesterday, the minister accused El Mundo of publishing a "hoax," and he did so by showing photos and a document about the new track. Significantly, the minister made no reference to the new track being welded to the old one, which is the detail highlighted by the aforementioned media outlet. But Puente's response to El Mundo wasn't the only act of disinformation. Furthermore, one of the photos published by the minister to respond to El Mundo (above) clearly shows the year "89" as the date of manufacture (see next enlarged photo), with which Puente has published proof that he is lying when accusing El Mundo of publishing a "hoax".

Furthermore, yesterday, following Óscar Puente's accusation against El Mundo, La Sexta, a media outlet traditionally aligned with the government, published: "Adif confirms to laSexta that the track that collapsed dates from 2023 and is connected to an original section from 1992." This media outlet points out: "Óscar Puente alluded this Sunday in his explanations and with photographs to a section installed in 2025, but furthermore laSexta confirms through Adif that in those images one can observe a section inaugurated in 1992 as we confirmed this Saturday in the information advanced by laSexta Xplica."

La Sexta adds that at the press conference given by the minister alongside the presidents of ADIF and Renfe last Friday, the president of ADIF, Luis Pedro Marco de la Peña, stated: "I can't guarantee if this weld that joins the rail is from 1992 or from later renovations. It is true that it joins the pre-existing rail with the new one." This statement makes it clear that the minister was untruthful when he claimed it was a "completely renovated" track and lied again when he accused El Mundo of publishing a "hoax" regarding that track.

Furthermore, on Friday the Ministry of Transport itself acknowledged in an official statement that only the diversions were changed, thus contradicting the minister. Under these circumstances, Óscar Puente's situation is politically untenable and he should resign immediately or, failing that, be dismissed. The problem is that the person who should dismiss him, the Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, is just as responsible for what happened as Puente.

+ UPDATED 5:25 PM: Ignacio Barrón, president of the Railway Accident Investigation Commission (CIAF), confirms that the accident was caused by a broken weld, as reported by the newspaper El Mundo. He also acknowledged that part of the rail was old, something denied by Óscar Puente, who accused the newspaper of spreading a "hoax." It's worth noting that the CIAF is an agency under the Ministry of Transport, headed by Óscar Puente.

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Photo: Ministerio de Transportes. The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, together with the president of ADIF, Luis Pedro Marco de la Peña, at the press conference they offered on Friday, January 23, 2026 together with the president of Renfe.