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The longest rail journey in Spain this century: Irate passengers take 12 hours to go from Madrid to Almeria
Passengers were given food and drinks to sustain them after their train’s fuel tank was damaged and the replacement vehicle took five hours to arrive
The hundred or so passengers who boarded the Talgo train from Madrid’s Atocha station to Almeria on Monday March 6, just after 8.15 in the morning, were unwittingly embarking on the longest train journey in the history of railways in Spain, at least so far this century.
Almeria is the only provincial capital in mainland Spain where the train journey to Madrid is currently more than six hours, but that was almost doubled this Monday in what was a real odyssey for users who undertook the journey from Madrid to Linares-Guadix-Almeria.
Shortly after starting the journey, the thirty-year-old Talgo locomotive ran over some obstacles that were on the track near Aranjuez, said rail operator Renfe, and that impact caused damage to the fuel tank, making it impossible to continue the journey.
The passengers were taken to Aranjuez station in a commuter train and there they had to wait for almost five hours for another train to arrive and take them to their destination.
The arrival time should have been 2.27pm, but the passengers didn’t end up arriving in Almeria until 8pm.
Renfe has said that the passengers were informed about what was happening at all times, and in anticipation of the long delay they received a bag with food and drink on arrival at the station of Alcazar de San Juan.
In addition, Renfe has reminded that within its refund policy, all those affected by the delay may request a full refund of the amount of their tickets once 24 hours have passed.
Last month, Renfe increased the number of trains running between Almeria and the Spanish capital to three per day, two of which go via Granada.
Image: Archive
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