Coast suffers another day of rail chaos with delays of up to five hours on 20 trains between Malaga and Madrid
The head of Malaga's provincial authority has spoken out: "The effort made to promote the image of Spain and the Costa del Sol as a quality tourist destination is being ruined by so many breakdowns, delays and cancellations"
Rail passengers who were due to board trains on the southern high-speed train line (HSL), which connects Madrid with Andalucía, on Tuesday experienced a complicated situation. Problems with the overhead electricity supply cables at La Sagra, Toledo, on Monday night affected most long-distance services, especially in the southbound direction, until shortly before 11am.
The causes are not clear. According to state railway infrastructure company Adif, an Avant train from Toledo to Madrid had damaged the catenary on Monday. However, railway operator Renfe denied this, stating that the train had already come across the fallen cable. In any case, one of the two tracks was fully fixed and the train continued to run, although the definitive repair was postponed until Tuesday morning.
According to the data collated by SUR, at least 20 trains were seriously delayed between Atocha and María Zambrano: 12 AVE and Avlo trains from Renfe; four from Iryo and another four from Ouigo.
Technical sources explained that it was not until 9.30am on Tuesday when they managed to free the track where an AVE train with some 300 passengers on board was stranded during the whole night. It was in the morning when services could resume.
However, thousands of passengers crowded around the screens at the train stations in Malaga and Madrid on Tuesday morning, with little to no information regarding the status of their journeys. "Nobody even tells us if we will be able to travel today or at what time, it's outrageous," said María, who was waiting with her ticket in hand at the Malaga terminal.
On top of this, the chaotic situation happened over the period of 30 June and 1 July, which is when many people start their summer holidays.
Around 11am, Adif announced that traffic had been restored at La Sagra (Toledo), confirming that the catenary fault had been repaired and voltage had been restored on both tracks. Trains between Madrid and southern Spain could then run again, although there were long delays due to the accumulation of trains.
The InfoRenfe application reported delays affecting mainly the north-south route, that is, from Atocha to María Zambrano. Trains from Malaga were able to leave early in the morning, but the delay and accumulation in Atocha was greater and more complex.
The 9.34am Madrid-Malaga Avlo train experienced 287 minutes of delay (i.e. almost five hours); the 5.48am Malaga-Madrid AVE left 156 minutes (2.5 hours) later than planned; and a similar situation occurred on the 7.41am (167 minutes). In the opposite direction, the 8.30am was 185 minutes late (3 hours).
On Tuesday, Renfe, which is the rail operator with the majority of services on the high-speed route and therefore the most affected, was working to speed up the return to normality by forming many departures in double composition, so that two trains could travel together and shorten the wait for passengers. The public company estimated that 47 trains, including Avant, AVE and Avlo, would be affected throughout Andalucía on its fleet alone. Iryo and Ouigo trains were also affected.
Malaga mayor Paco de la Torre: "It is a pity that the reputation of high-speed rail in Spain is decreasing in value"
Tuesday's situation on the high-speed trains connecting Andalucía with Madrid caused a political uproar. The strongest reaction came from the Mayor of Malaga, Paco de la Torre, who said: "I was on a trip to Madrid, which reminded me of the journeys I used to make when I was a student, when we would leave in the afternoon and arrive the following morning. It is a pity that the reputation of the country, which has the first high-speed network in Europe and the second after China, is now losing value; it is something that worries me as a Spaniard." President of Malaga's provincial authority Francisco Salado said: "The effort made to promote the image of Spain and the Costa del Sol as a quality tourist destination is being ruined by so many breakdowns, delays and cancellations." Socialist spokesperson Dani Pérez blamed it on a "one-off event", although he asked Renfe to explain the reasons for the incident. Con Málaga's co-spokesperson Toni Morillas demanded improvements in the railway infrastructure, while hard-right Vox spokesperson Antonio Alcázar said: "This is yet another breakdown and it will not be the last one due to the negligence of the Ministry of Transport."
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