Crowds, breakdowns, and copper thefts: What’s the real reason for Spain’s ongoing rail issues?

30.11.2024 - 23:37 / euronews.com

"It's like this almost every day," laments Paola, who is waiting for her train to go to Barcelona for work. It’s already one hour and 45 minutes late. She still doesn’t know when she will be able to leave Madrid.

“This is a huge problem. It’s okay when you have occasional delays, but when it becomes the norm, we have to ask ourselves questions." 

Like her, many Spaniards share daily on social media their mishaps and anger about the chaotic train situation across the country. 

At the end of October, an overturned train and a passenger in a prohibited area blocked nearly 15,000 passengers in the two main train stations in Madrid.

In recent years, problems of all kinds have skyrocketed throughout the railway network. 

Delays, breakdowns, crowds in stations, copper thefts that leave trains without service, trains stopped in tunnels, and passengers stuck for hours without water or electricity regularly make the European headlines. 

“The most important problem, further than cancellations or delays, is that the quality of the service offered by the operators has deteriorated,” explains Jorge Morera from the Public Transport Promotion Association, a Spanish organisation that defends sustainable mobility through public transport. 

“There are major capacity issues at stations, and there is poor management of disruption, which now affects passengers on a daily basis, even more on local and regional networks.”

Spanish national company Renfe recorded the highest number of delays in its history last year, both with its AVE high-speed services and medium-distance trains, according to a company report. 

Renfe claimed many causes, including the rising demand for rail, numerous improvement works within the railway network, and issues related to competing companies. 

Spain has a unique train situation in Europe, as three different train companies operate high-speed services. 

Renfe lost its monopoly in 2021, and since then, it’s been pitted against the French state train company Ouigo España, and Iryo, which is partly owned by Italy's Trenitalia rail firm. 

In response to this increased competition, Renfe launched its own low-cost, Renfe Avlo.

“We have more trains and better prices, which is good, but there are some other things that are not good for passengers,” says Morera. “Renfe has changed its policies and reduced the compensation for disruption since this new scenario. This is not good news for passengers.” 

Renfe no longer offers refunds of the full ticket price for delays of only 30 minutes. Instead, it compensates 50 per cent for delays of one hour and 100 per cent for delays beyond 90 minutes.

The drop in prices and the opening up to competition led to a huge increase in traffic and passengers. 

Train travellers set a