Madrid-Seville trains to return with fewer departures after repairs

Spain’s transport minister says the high-speed rail line between Madrid and Seville could reopen within ten calendar days of a judge allowing repair work at the crash site in Urda, in the province of Toledo. Trains will run less often at first, but the minister says the number of seats on offer will stay about the same, which matters to anyone in Seville who travels to the capital.

What happened

Europa Press reports that Óscar Puente, head of the Ministerio de Transportes y Movilidad Sostenible (the national Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility), made the announcement on Tuesday 3 November. He spoke at the press conference that follows the weekly Consejo de Ministros (the Spanish cabinet meeting).

According to Puente, the ministry asked the judge in charge of the case that day for permission to start rebuilding and restoring the line. The request came after crews had finished removing material and carriages of the trains involved in the accident from the tracks.

The minister said a little over 40 metres of the line was damaged. As a precaution, work will cover a stretch of about 400 metres until service is fully restored. “We now depend on the permission the court gives us, but our prudent estimate is that, from that point, we will be able to put the line back into service within a maximum of 10 calendar days,” Puente said, as quoted by Europa Press.

When trains return, there will be fewer of them for a while. Puente said this will last until two pieces of work are finished: the rollout of ERTMS-2 on the Madrid-Seville line, following the existing schedule, and an extraordinary, immediate review of the line’s safety systems by the Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Ferroviaria (the State Rail Safety Agency). ERTMS is the European signalling and train control system.

What it means for you

If you live in Seville and use the line to reach Madrid, expect fewer departures once it reopens. Puente gave an example of the change: “Instead of a train every five, six or ten, there will be one every fifteen, for example.” He said passengers will need to plan their journeys differently.

The ministry does not expect seat numbers to fall. To keep capacity at a similar level, operators will run trains in doble composición (double formation), which means two train units coupled together. Puente pointed out that this is common on the Spanish rail network, especially at peak times. “What you do is simply join two units and double the number of seats that a single unit would have,” he said.

Puente also ruled out reducing frequencies on other routes. The cut applies only to Madrid-Seville.

For now, the practical points for residents are:

• No reopening date has been set yet. The ten-day estimate only starts once the judge gives permission, and the source does not say when that will happen.
• When services resume, departures will be spaced further apart, so check timetables carefully before booking, especially if you have a fixed appointment or connection in Madrid.
• Trains may be longer than usual because two units are joined together. Check your carriage number and platform information when you board.

This is a national rail line managed under the central government’s transport ministry, so these arrangements are not decided by the Junta de Andalucía (Andalusia’s regional government).

What to watch next

The first thing to watch is the court’s decision on the ministry’s request to start repairs at Urda. Once the judge gives permission, the ministry’s own estimate puts the reopening within ten calendar days.

After that, the reduced timetable will stay in place until the ERTMS-2 rollout on the line is complete and the Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Ferroviaria has finished its extraordinary safety review. The source gives no date for either. Updates from the ministry and your train operator will show when full frequencies return.

Source: Europa Press Andalucía