What was meant to be a smooth journey from Madrid to Malaga turned into a 14-hour ordeal for nearly 300 passengers after their AVE train ground to a halt just 20 minutes into the trip.
The train departed Chamartín station slightly behind schedule at 7.35pm on Monday, but by 8:26pm, it had stopped dead near La Sagra, a municipality in the province of Toledo.
A power failure affecting overhead lines brought at least nine trains to a standstill across the region. Most were able to continue after a few hours. One was not.
It came as a heatwave was continuing to grip with country, with temperatures in the high 30s in and around the Toledo region.
By 8.30am Tuesday, Malaga-based lawyer Manuel Jimenez Baras was still stuck on board with his three children – aged 10, 13, and 14 – along with hundreds of other passengers, all left overnight in stifling heat, stranded on a powerless train with no air conditioning and only the faint breeze from open doors.
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‘It’s an unbearable situation,’ Jimenez told SUR.
‘There are babies who’ve been crying all night. My daughter begged me, ‘Dad, please don’t ever put me on a train again.’’
What unfolded overnight was closer to a humanitarian breakdown than a typical travel disruption.
According to Jimenez, one elderly passenger collapsed and had to be evacuated by a mobile intensive care unit. Another required oxygen. Several suffered panic attacks.
The lawyer is now preparing legal action against Renfe, accusing the public rail operator of ‘illegal detention.’
‘We’ve been locked in here for more than 12 hours. People are panicking. Some started walking along the track this morning,’ he said. ‘It’s outrageous.’
Despite the presence of a service lane alongside the tracks – used throughout the night by Guardia Civil officers to deliver food and water, and by medical teams to extract the most vulnerable – Renfe did not evacuate the passengers.
Jimenez claimed at least nine trains passed on the adjacent line, any of which could have taken them back to Madrid.
Renfe began sending text updates throughout the night, telling passengers the issue would be resolved in 90 minutes. One message claimed they’d arrive in Malaga by 8am. An hour later, they were still stranded.
The cause of the disruption remains contested. Infrastructure operator Adif said the overhead line was damaged late Monday by a Toledo–Madrid Avant train. Renfe disputes this, claiming the Avant train had simply encountered a line that was already down.
