Players.bio is a large online platform sharing the best live coverage of your favourite sports: Football, Golf, Rugby, Cricket, F1, Boxing, NFL, NBA, plus the latest sports news, transfers & scores. Exclusive interviews, fresh photos and videos, breaking news. Stay tuned to know everything you wish about your favorite stars 24/7. Check our daily updates and make sure you don't miss anything about celebrities' lives.

Contacts

  • Owner: SNOWLAND s.r.o.
  • Registration certificate 06691200
  • 16200, Na okraji 381/41, Veleslavín, 162 00 Praha 6
  • Czech Republic

‘Unspeakable botch’: Spain spends €258 million on trains that are too big for its tunnels

Spain has spent €258 million on trains that are too big to pass through its rail network’s tunnels.

Since the blunder was exposed by local newspaper El Comercio late last month, two transport bosses have been fired.

The 31 commuter trains were ordered by Renfe in 2020. They are set to replace an ageing fleet in the poorly connected northern autonomous regions of Asturias and Cantabria.

Originally slated for completion in 2024, the much-needed update is now likely to be delayed until at least 2026.

It has also emerged that the manufacturer, Basque-based CAF, flagged the error back in March 2021.

President Miguel Ángel Revilla has called it “an unspeakable botch” adding that “heads must roll", according to Spanish regional newspaper El Diario Montañés.

Various parties played a part in the debacle, including Spain’s national rail operator Renfe, rail infrastructure manager Adif, transport manufacturer CAF and the State Agency for Railway Safety (AESF).

After granting the manufacturing contract to CAF, Renfe says it provided measurements based on infrastructure specifications provided by Adif. CAF later warned that the specifications may not be correct.

Built in the 19th century, the region’s rail network crosses a mountainous landscape. It has varying tunnel sizes that do not adhere to standardised modern dimensions.

So far, two senior officials have been dismissed - a Renfe rolling stock manager and Adif’s head of inspection and track technology.

Spain’s transport minister Raquel Sanchez says she was only recently made aware of the problem. She has launched an internal audit into who knew about the issue and why it wasn’t raised earlier.

Spain’s Secretary General for Infrastructure, Xavier Flores, has admitted that he was made aware

Read more on euronews.com