Óscar Puente resigned as Spain’s transport minister six days after the high-speed train collision that killed at least 69 people.

He announced the decision in Congress, after giving evidence on the previous Wednesday’s disaster near Urda, south of Madrid, when a train smashed into the back of another that had stopped on the same line. Puente justified his departure by citing two serious accidents in less than a year, and mentioned January’s crash on the same line, which killed 46 people. He also withdrew his name from the candidate lists for the early legislative elections on November 29. According to Puente, the control center run by Adif, Spain’s state-owned rail infrastructure manager, allowed the AVE train to keep running even though its LZB automatic safety system had failed, and the train covered about 25 kilometers at more than 160 km/h before the collision. Around 200 people were injured in the crash, in addition to the 69 dead.