Alex Trelinski
SPAIN’S Transport Minister has not ruled out sabotage causing Saturday’s derailment in a Madrid tunnel that caused chaos to service between the capital and Eastern Spain.
30 services were cancelled with nearly 15,000 passengers affected on links to the Murcia and Valencia regions.
A train was being towed to a workshop through a tunnel between Atocha and Chamartin, and became loose- ending up against a wall.
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That problem was compounded further when a man threatened to jump off a bridge that was over a key junction where high speed and commuter lines converged.
It meant all arrivals and departures at Atocha had to be diverted to Chamartin.
As for the derailment, Transport Minister, Oscar Puente, described the incident as ‘absolutely unusual’.
He did not rule out sabotage but said that he was not prepared to speculate on the cause until till there was some evidence.
Rail and track operators, Renfe and Adif, made a joint statement on Monday saying that services through the tunnel had been restored in the early hours but are running on a single track.
The damaged unit is still there and will be removed next weekend to ‘minimise disruption’ to schedules.
Some arrivals and departures have used Atocha as opposed to Chamartin, and vice versa.
