Eviction and behaviour of 'very disruptive' passenger causes delay of more than 45 minutes on Malaga-Madrid train

The misbehaviour of a single "very disruptive" passenger caused a delay of more than 45 minutes during a night train ride from Malaga to Madrid on Friday, 20 June. The incident affected more than 500 passengers.

The train of the Iryo company left María Zambrano station in Malaga at 8.55pm. Only a few minutes into the journey, a man became aggressive towards other passengers and the staff. Witnesses described his behaviour as neurotic and crazy, but it has not been confirmed whether he was under the influence of alcohol, drugs or other circumstances.

At 10.11pm, the train was forced to stop at the Villanueva de Córdoba station, after the staff had contacted the police and railroad technicians. Several officers tried to persuade the man to get off the train, but he refused to do so, which prompted the police to forcibly remove him. The situation was described as "pretty ugly" by other passengers.

The train was finally able to resume its normal journey at 10.45pm. It arrived in Madrid with a delay of 44 minutes. A Seville-Madrid train, that was running behind the first one and that had left at 8.45pm, also suffered a delay of 53 minutes due to the incident.