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The last breakdown of the Extremadura train rewrites another bizarre episode. If it is hardly news that the rickety railway machines leave passengers lying in the middle of nowhere on any trip that covers this region with Madrid, the latest incident marks another milestone for the controversy: putting buses as an alternative transportation plan for the affected passengers, as the railway tracks were blocked, but not a single seat on these.

This has happened during these last two days, in a section of the province of Toledo, after an incident in a machine left the train track in disuse.

Renfe's alternative was the transfer by road in buses without any empty seats, with passengers crowded together, buses overflowing, without keeping any type of safety distance in full multiplication of the positives of Covid-19. And it has happened for two consecutive days, this Monday and Tuesday, and in full August holidays.

This is how some of the affected passengers describe it on social networks - Adif has confirmed the line breakdowns in the last 48 hours-, who denounce how after serious problems in a train machine near Illescas (Toledo) caused that Two trains that covered the Madrid-Cáceres route (one outward and the other back) were left without circulation .

Specifically, these were the medium-distance trains - 17907 Media Distancia - that connected Cáceres (it had left Seville-Santa Justa at 11:55 a.m.) with Madrid and also the return one - 17018 Regional Express -, from Atocha, at 6:45 p.m., and it had the incidence at 7:26 p.m.

The passengers were put on a bus to complete part of the route on the road without any type of health prevention, according to what they themselves prove with photographs taken inside the buses: they were full and without any free seat.

The journey along this route to save the disabled section and take another train again was about 18 kilometers, a distance that exists by road between Villaluenga de la Sagra - Yunco s and Illescas.

"No type of organization or indication, just pack the suitcases as quickly as possible and find a place on the bus for anyone who can. This has been a constant over the years with the train to Extremadura, but without a doubt today You have shone, "says an affectionate passenger, Alex Hernández , on his Twitter account.

Users say that the trains were stopped for almost an hour, which precipitated the transfer by road as an alternative route offered by Renfe to save the incidents on the section of the track where the trains could not travel.

As this Tuesday the incidents had not been solved, Renfe arranged the same alternative plan: full buses without free seats that kept the safety distance, so the passengers of the Madrid-Cáceres line were transferred again by bus in the same section: Villaluenga and Illescas.

Passengers do not understand how, knowing what happened on Monday, Renfe did not have enough buses to travel with greater health security control, leaving free seats between occupants and occupants.

Two and a half hours late

In addition, they also denounce that at no time were they warned before departure that the road was impassable in that section of the province of Toledo and therefore they had to make those alternative kilometers by road.

Between the obligatory stop, the organization of the transfer and the bus trip, the delay in the journey between Madrid and Cáceres has exceeded two and a half hours, according to those affected.

Alex Hernández adds: "The only thing that will prevent a disaster is the good faith of the people to try to organize themselves to minimize risks. Hopefully there will not be any regrowth, because we go, for your part [in reference to Renfe] you have all put the ingredients to roll it up. "

In his thread on this social network, he adds that "you are not able to put more buses or have clear guidelines to ensure the safety of your travelers. You should be ashamed of yourself."

The aforementioned were not the only incidents in the last 48 hours on Extremadura lines. Talgo also suffered delays this Monday, more than an hour, that left Madrid at 4:18 p.m. and had to interrupt its journey due to the forest fire in the vicinity of the road, near the town of Cañaveral , where the line was interrupted until Cáceres.

In addition, this Tuesday, due to another incident in the infrastructures, the Badajoz-Villanueva de la Serena section has been blocked , so there have been significant delays in the Badajoz-Mérida-Puertollano routes . Specifically, between Cabeza del Buey and Badajoz, two hours and 30 minutes; between Badajoz and Alcázar de San Juan , one hour and 20 minutes; and between Badajoz and Madrid, a delay of two hours and 10 minutes, according to the Milana Bonita citizen platform .

This platform has been claiming for years the improvement of railway infrastructures between Madrid and Extremadura, which has included, after the pandemic, the decrease in the number of routes between both destinations, already scarce.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Renfe
  • Estremadura
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19

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