The SFM committee accuses the company and the Regional Ministry of creating confusion: "They only offer future studies"

PalmThe works council of Mallorca Railway Services (SFM) has accused management and the Ministry of Housing, Territory and Mobility of giving the public messages regarding infrastructure safety that do not reflect reality. The workers' representatives have sent a letter to Minister José Luis Mateo, accompanied by a dossier detailing safety incidents collected over the last two years. The council criticized Mateo, stating that while the Ministry claims safety is guaranteed, no basic answers, written commitments, concrete agreements, or immediate improvement measures are being offered at the negotiating table. "What we are being offered, for the moment, are announcements of studies and future projects. To say that everything is under control when there are no clear protocols or a safety governance structure is simply misleading the public," they pointed out.

The committee has accused the Ministry and management of concealing the lack of daily safety management with headlines, timely reports, and long-term promises. "Railway safety isn't built on propaganda: it's built on procedures, clear responsibilities, incident traceability, and real coordination between departments," they added.

In the letter, the workers ask Minister Mateo, who is currently ultimately responsible for railway safety in the Madrid Rail Network (SFM), to provide them with the organizational chart of responsibilities in safety matters. In their opinion, "not even the company itself is able to clearly define it." If they claim to lack an organizational chart, they ask, "Why hasn't a cross-departmental body for safety coordination been created, integrating infrastructure, rolling stock, operations, maintenance, and prevention, despite repeated proposals?"

The works council believes that the relevant councilor is receiving distorted information about the negotiations and, therefore, is also unaware of the true extent of the incidents that have accumulated over the last two years. For this reason, they have sent him part of a documented dossier with facts, images, and repair times that demonstrate that the problem "is not theoretical but real, recurring, and structural."

For the workers' representatives, transparency is the only way to improve a system that, in many areas, continues to operate in a "makeshift manner and normalizes too many risky situations." "It is unacceptable that we have had to announce strikes for them to finally deign to regulate rearview mirrors with zero visibility or to promise a braking beacon on critical curves. Must tragedies or protests occur before you take action?" they asked.

Dossier with incidents

The report submitted to the Minister of Housing, Territory, and Mobility contains a compilation of incidents, such as a derailment in July 2025, attributed by the company to a rock, but which the committee believes originated from track deformation. They also point to broken rails that are not repaired immediately, as well as structural deformation problems. They also mention the lack of awareness, despite its update, of the Self-Protection Plan. According to them, in general, staff are unfamiliar with the network's facilities, such as evacuation routes or emergency exits, because they were never trained on them. The report also indicates that the Tetra network's communication equipment is not working in many units, despite being the primary communication system, forcing them to use conventional telephones. "We speak different languages."

The committee already criticized the slow pace of security negotiations with the company on Tuesday, acknowledging that progress is being made, but only "minor" advances. The committee president made these remarks to Europa Press after Tuesday's meeting between representatives of the workers, the company, and technical experts. "We speak different languages," Mas stated, explaining that the outcome of Tuesday's meeting (the third) was bittersweet. After starting with a negative feeling, progress was made on some points, leading them to believe there is still room for further negotiations and maintaining the mobile units.