Andalucía confirmed as home of Spain's new transport accident investigation authority

The new authority, a decentralised body under the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, will be responsible for investigating accidents and incidents across the rail, maritime and civil aviation sectors. Its role will be to establish the causes of accidents and make recommendations aimed at improving safety and preventing similar incidents from happening again.

Ministerial sources confirmed that Malaga and Cordoba are the only Spanish cities to have submitted bids to host the authority's headquarters. The body will have organisational, functional and financial autonomy, although no timetable has been given for selecting the successful city.

That said, the future chairman of the authority has already been chosen. The Transport Committee of Spain's Congress of Deputies recently approved the appointment of Gonzalo Julián Guillén Espejo-Saavedra, a naval and oceanic engineer who currently serves as maritime captain of La Coruña. His nomination was put forward by Transport Minister Óscar Puente.

The committee also approved five of the government's proposed board members: Verónica Elvira Olalla and María Teresa Lumbreras Encinas for the civil aviation sector, Nuria Obiols Vives and Juan Andrés Pérez Pérez for the maritime sector and Jorge Navacerrada Álvarez for the railway sector.

However, lawmakers rejected the appointment of Adolfo Moreno Díaz, a member of the Commission for the Investigation of Railway Accidents (CIAF), until the new authority becomes fully operational.

Moreno Díaz currently serves on the body investigating the railway accident in Adamuz, Cordoba, which occurred in January. A new candidate will therefore have to be proposed for the second railway position.

The authority was created under Law 2/2024 of 1 August and will take over the responsibilities currently carried out by three separate investigative bodies: the Commission for the Investigation of Railway Accidents (CIAF), the Permanent Commission for the Investigation of Maritime Accidents and Incidents (CIAIM) and the Commission for the Investigation of Civil Aviation Accidents and Incidents (CIAIAC).

The Spanish Government approved an emergency procedure in March to establish the authority's headquarters outside Madrid as part of its wider policy of decentralising public bodies and boosting activity in provincial capitals.

The organisation is expected to employ between 30 and 60 people and will include a governing board, technical directorates for each transport mode, a general secretariat and a family assistance unit for victims and relatives.

The legislation also introduces specific information rights for victims, family members and victims' associations, strengthening their legal position during accident investigations.