Travel chaos in Spain as trains halted and passengers hit with delays after cable theft – days after power outage

The Irish Sun

05-05-2025

THIEVES have stolen copper cables from Spain's high-speed train network, halting services, stranding thousands and trapping passengers on trains overnight.
The theft targeted line cables in four spots within a 6-mile stretch between Madrid and Seville - Transport Minister
Oscar
Puente called it a 'serious act of sabotage' on X.
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People waited anxiously for news about their delayed trains at the Madrid train station
Credit: AP
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Thousands were left stranded here on Sunday evening
Credit: EPA
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Train disruptions still continue
Credit: EPA
Thousands of passengers were left waiting in
Madrid
's Atocha station on Sunday evening after the network was hit was delays.
Mexican tourist Alberto Valero and his family spent hours stranded at the station due to delays on the Madrid–Seville train line.
Valero said: 'We're here with tourists from everywhere - France, Portugal.
"Everyone is at a loss for what to do because of the total disarray.'
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Train services on numerous lines of the high-speed network were suspended.
Nine trains were even left stranded between stations, with many passengers forced to spend the night onboard, according to
interviews
on Spain's state broadcaster TVE.
On Monday morning, only a few trains left Madrid for Toledo, as services to cities further south, like Seville and Malaga, were still suspended, Spain's railway infrastructure company ADIF said on X.
The train connecting Madrid and cities in the South was expected to resume service at around 9.30am on Monday, ADIF said.
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The railway company said its staff were working to replace the stolen cables and reestablish the service.
The network links most major cities but is exposed to cable thefts as it runs through vast, empty countryside.
Spain and Portugal power outage – Sweeping blackouts shut down internet & grind transport to a halt
It comes after Spain and Portugal were
Spain's Interior Ministry
In Madrid, emergency crews carried out 286 rescues to free people trapped in lifts, while passengers in Portugal were forced to flee darkened underground tunnels.
Traffic lights failed, mobile networks collapsed, and desperate residents queued outside shops, petrol stations and banks to grab supplies and cash.
Airports in
Lisbon, Madrid and
Barcelona
ground to a halt, with hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled, leaving tens of thousands of British tourists stranded.
Hundreds of passengers were also left
Spain
's transport minister said 11 trains remained stranded with passengers on board on Tuesday, nearly nine hours after the blackout.
At least five people are known to have
The blackout was dubbed the worst in European history - eclipsing the 2003 outage that hit 56 million people in Italy and Switzerland.
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The aftershocks of Spain's blackout are being felt
Credit: EPA