Spain rail crisis: Minister of Transport cannot guarantee date for Malaga-Madrid line reopeing

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The serious damage after the Adamuz accident and the bad weather make advances unpredictable and impossible at times

Melchor Sáiz-Pardo

Wednesday, 4 February 2026, 12:24

Minister of Transport Óscar Puente is now cautious to make any promises regarding the reopening of the high-speed train line between Madrid and Andalucía. The initial date following the Adamuz train crash was 2 February, subsequently moved to 7 or 8 February. As the minister has warned, the adverse weather conditions could further delay the work and the latest rains have made reopening this week impossible.

The train collision near Adamuz on 18 January has claimed the lives of 46 people and seriously disrupted traffic between Madrid and Andalucía.

Since then, Puente has been saying that reinstalling the tracks would take ten days of work. The heavy rains and successive storms, however, have made work on some days impossible.

In addition, the weather conditions across Spain have disrupted work on the Rodalies line in Catalonia following the accident in Gelida. The Catalan network, however, is slowly going back to normal.

Especially in the case of Catalonia and in response to criticism, Puente said that the opposition is to blame for previously carrying out quick and unsustainable repairs. "When it [rail network] is abandoned for years, when there are no investments and maintainance, it is logical that this situation will drag on for some time," he told the PP opposition party, which has been insisting on Puente resigning since the two accidents.

As for the Andalusian high-speed line, Puente refused to provide an exact reopening date. "Given the degree of damage to the infrastructure, complex weather conditions and the need for railway companies to carry out tests, it is not possible to set a date for the reopening of the service in full safety conditions," Puente said before the lower house of Parliament, same as he did last week before the higher house.

The minister said that work on recovering the tracks in Cordoba could not have started before the judicial authorisation had given permission, which happened last week. Puente stated that, since then, they have been working tirelessly, with Adif restoring the affected section of the tracks day in, day out.

The first task after the removal of the Alvia and Iryo trains was to clean the area and remove the damaged pieces, which started on 24 January.

Only 40,000 passengers use the alternative transport option per week

Puente has acknowlegded that the delay in reopening the high-speed line in Andalucía has had a huge impact on transport.

According to the minister's calculations, only 40,000 people a week are using the "alternative" travel plan that was put in place after the Cordoba accident. This represents only 17 per cent of the usual number of passengers who use the train between Malaga and Madrid. Puente admitted that it is "obvious" that buses "cannot replace the high-speed service".

On the other hand, the minister has forecast the "gradual normalisation over the next few days" in Catalonia. "We have witnessed the progressive recovery of the [Rodalies] service," he said, adding that the short-distance Catalan line is slowly returning to normal.

"I understand that everyone is in a hurry to know when the tracks are going to be recovered, which is a reasonable worry, although this forces us to provide information that cannot be as certain as it should be," Puente said.

The transport minister accused the opposition for the state of the rail network in Catalonia, stating that previous ruling offices "did not buy a single train during their terms". "The rolling stock is getting older and older," the minister said, attributing any advances in the network in Catalonia to the party currently in office.