Renfe had restored traffic through the Recoletos-Atocha tunnel in Madrid this past Wednesday after the derailment of a convoy at noon on Tuesday, which affected several commuter, medium and long distance lines in full operation leaving the bridge. The Recoletos station also remained closed after another incident on November 26 when an Intercity train left the track, so the Cercanías service was provided with delays during the journey between the Airport – Príncipe Pío stations in Madrid during the 24th. hours. And this Friday there was another derailment: a Renfe commuter train that suffered an axis leaving the track at around 00:50 this Friday at the entrance to the Atocha station.
The 60 passengers who were on the train “have evacuated to the Atocha station without any injuries,” Renfe reported. Again, at the beginning of the day there was single track traffic on the Atocha – Recoletos section, which has produced limitations in circulation.
The railway company indicates that the causes of this new incident that affected the Cercanías trains and medium and long distance trains that use that section from Atocha to Recoletos are being investigated at dawn on Friday. Renfe points out that it is informing passengers “through all its communication and customer service channels.”
On Tuesday, as a consequence of the previous derailment, three passengers had to be treated by healthcare workers from a Samur-Civil Protection Basic Unit. All of them presented low back pain and did not require hospital transfer. According to Renfe, two other people received assistance for minor injuries. “It was a very sudden, very sudden crash. The people who were in the stairway area, in all the cars, all rolled down. Many people hit each other a lot,” said a witness, a commuter passenger affected on Tuesday, in statements to Europa Press. And he explained that, like many other people, he himself had suffered a blow to the head, elbow and back.
The general secretary of the PP of Madrid, Alfonso Serrano, asked the Government of Spain this Tuesday for greater investment in the Cercanías network and quantified “more than 700 incidents” in the Cercanías network of the Community of Madrid. “Due to this lack of investment, these incidents are becoming accidents,” he said.
