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Disgruntled passengers slam inadequate Cadiz Cercanias train facilities
The Andalucía local train service is frequently late and severely understaffed, say detractors
Rail passengers in Spain’s southern province of Cadiz have complained of inadequate services and facilities on the Cercanías light overground trains run by state operator Renfe.
The Cadiz Cercanías line runs from Jerez de la Frontera Airport to Cadiz city, stopping at several stations along the bay of Cadiz along the way, and the line is also used for Media Distancia trains to and from Seville and Cordoba.
However, accusations from regular passengers claim that Cercanías trains are too often cancelled or delayed without warning or explanation in order to make way from Media Distancia trains which have priority, leaving passengers waiting for up to an hour extra for their train.
This in turn causes the trains to be chock-a-block with passengers as twice as many people try to cram onto one train.
“It’s ridiculous,” said one passenger, who asked not to be named. “Renfe puts on extra trains at important times when there’s carnival or feria but the regular service just isn’t good enough.”
When contacted for comment, Renfe said that these allegations “do not correspond to reality” and that the “data demonstrates that this is not true, beyond the occasional case”.
There are also complaints of lifts and escalators not working properly for months on end, especially in the stations of Puerto Real and Valdelagrana, meaning people with reduced mobility are unable to leave the station platform.
What’s more, many of the stations on the Cadiz Cercanías line do not have anybody manning the ticket office and sometimes the speaker buttons installed in these stations do not work or no one picks up when you ring, so there is nobody to talk to or complain to.
One passenger recounted: “I once saw two women in electric wheelchairs get off the train only to find that the elevator was out of service. I had to help them call the number for the elevator technician, which was written on a sticker placed very high, out of the line of sight of people in wheelchairs.”
Renfe assures that as a result of these issues being reported, the elevators are now operating normally, the escalator down to platform 2 was out of order but has now been repaired and is operating normally, and the escalator down to platform 1 “is scheduled to be repaired during the month of August”.
Since September 2022, train travel on Cercanías and Media Distancia trains in Spain has been virtually free for those who buy a season ticket and make more than 16 journeys in a 4-month window in an effort to ease the burden of the rising cost of living.
Despite some teething problems, the government subsidy on regular commuter train travel has proved extremely popular, but it remains to be seen whether it will be extended into 2024.
staff.inc.and
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