Signalling cable taken from four locations, delaying high-speed services between Madrid and Seville, week after massive power cut
Spain\u2019s transport minister has said the country\u2019s rail network suffered \u201can act of serious sabotage\u201d after vital signalling cable was stolen over the busy bank holiday weekend, bringing severe delays to high-speed services between Madrid and Seville that affected more than 10,000 travellers.
Government sources said the problems on the line between the capital and the southern region of Andaluc\u00eda had been caused by the theft of copper cable from five different locations in the Toledo area, south of Madrid, late on Sunday.
They said that while the cables that had been targeted had little monetary value \u2013 being worth a total of around \u20ac300 (\u00a3256) \u2013 they were essential to the safety of the lines as they allow the system to know where trains are.
\u201cIf those safety cables are taken, then the line is blind,\u201d they added. \u201cThey\u2019re optimal if you want to put the whole line out of service.\u201d
As the country\u2019s state-owned rail operator, Renfe, and the railway infrastructure company, Adif, rushed to restore services, Spain\u2019s transport minister, \u00d3scar Puente, said: \u201cWe have suffered an act of serious sabotage on the high-speed line between Madrid and Seville\u201d. He urged anyone with information to contact the police.
In a radio interview on Monday morning, Puente said the network appeared to have been deliberately targeted. \u201cThis is a low-value theft,\u201d he told Cadena Ser. \u201cWhoever did it knew what they were doing because there were no cameras and the financial gain is absolutely negligible compared with the enormous damage.\u201d
The minister said he viewed the incident as \u201cdamage\u201d rather than theft, adding that it involved 150 metres of cable.
\u00c1lvaro Fern\u00e1ndez Heredia, the president of Renfe, said he also felt the theft was suspicious.
\u201cIt\u2019s strange and I\u2019m sure the transport ministry and the police will be looking into this because it isn\u2019t something we\u2019ve seen up until now,\u201d he toldRadio Nacional de Espa\u00f1a.
Asked if he shared Puente\u2019s contention that it was a case of sabotage: \u201cI do \u2026 The theft of signalling cable on which the safety infrastructure depends is sabotage, even if it\u2019s just simple theft because it\u2019s an attack on the infrastructure itself.\u201d
The interior ministry said the Guardia Civil had opened an investigation, adding that both that force and the Polic\u00eda Nacional had long been in contact with Adif as part of a special plan for prevent the theft of copper from the rail network. According to interior ministry statistics, there were 4,433 thefts involving copper and conductive materials last year.
By 9.30am on Monday, Renfe and Adif said the Madrid to Seville line was running again and hoped services would return to normal over the course of the day.
By early Monday morning, Alberto Valero and his family, visiting Spain from Mexico, had spent hours at Madrid\u2019s Atocha station, waiting for a train to Seville.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here with tourists from everywhere; France, Portugal,\u201d Valero told the Associated Press. \u201cEveryone is at a loss for what to do because of the total disarray.\u201d
The severe delays came a week after Spain and neighbouring Portugal suffered an unprecedented and as yet unexplained power blackout<\/a>, prompting the opposition conservative People\u2019s party (PP) to accuse the socialist-led government of incompetence.
\u201cWe\u2019ve had two events in the past week that are more commonly seen in countries we wouldn\u2019t want to resemble; countries where the government has forgotten about its citizens,\u201d said PP sources.
The PP\u2019s leader, Alberto N\u00fa\u00f1ez Feij\u00f3o, said thousands of people had been stranded on trains overnight without water.
\u201cThis is the second Monday when we\u2019ve had scenes that do not befit the fourth-largest eurozone economy,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t deserve to be paying more taxes for worse services. Spain needs to function again and that\u2019s my aim.\u201d
In an interview with El Pa\u00eds on Sunday<\/a>, Spain\u2019s environment minister, Sara Aagesen, warned it could take days to discover the reasons for last week\u2019s power outage. She also echoed her view that it was far too soon for opposition parties and others to be pointing the finger at the country\u2019s renewable energy sources<\/a> as a possible cause.
\u201cBlaming renewable as a [reason for the blackout] seems irresponsible and simplistic to me,\u201d said Aagesen. \u201cIrresponsible because we\u2019re talking about a resource that has been part of our energetic mix for a long time. And, besides, we\u2019ve had very similar power generation on many previous days, with lots of renewables and even with lower demand \u2013 and the system has worked perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n