Confusion among passengers at Malaga city's train station following cancellation of all services to Madrid

All services between Malaga and Madrid have been cancelled, which is the only information people have received.

Renfe staff at María Zambrano are describing the accident as "very serious"and estimate that the high-speed service between Malaga and Madrid will not resume in the short term.

Passengers are increasingly being told to find alternatives "on their own", as state rail operator is still working on organising alternative transport arrangements. The official alternative routes, however, will not be available until at least Thursday.

Sur spoke to 63-year-old José Marín, who was due to travel to visit his brother in Madrid. "I've told him the trip is on hold until further notice. I don't think the situation will be resolved any time soon, to be honest. You don't really feel up to travelling either," he said.

The queues at the Renfe information point at the time of publishing this article were moderate. "Lots of people have heard about it and aren't even coming here," student Laura Martín said. Her plan was to travel to the capital to visit some friends.

As for alternatives for travelling to Madrid by train, the only option currently available is to travel to Cordoba and, from there, take an AVE to the capital.

The other options, for the time being, are via Malaga Airport or by car or bus.

Read dedicated local reporting for Malaga city