• Anniversary Renfe sells 50,000 tickets in its promotion of the 30 years of the AVE

At the time this news was published, the

345 passengers on the 11162 AVE Puerta de Atocha-Alicante

were very fed up, after five hours standing on the train in Motilla del Palancar (Cuenca).

At that time the train, towed by another, was moving slowly in the direction of Cuenca.

at 11:20 p.m. they arrived in the capital of Cuenca.

María Ruiz, a passenger, summed up the news shortly before as follows:

"We have been kidnapped by Renfe.

This has to be known."

Desperation had taken its toll on the passengers.

The train was supposed to leave Madrid-Atocha

at 16.40 and arrive at 18.11 in Albacete.

But around 6:00 p.m. they stopped in Motilla.

Hours later, María summed up: "They haven't given us an explanation. We're close to mutiny. There's going to be a tragedy here."

It was 10:50 p.m.

Luckily, a few minutes later the

machine arrived that towed them to Cuenca.

The reason for this very long break, they explained from ADIF, was a

breakdown in the train,

for which Renfe was responsible.

The railway company did not offer information on this fault on its website.

"They have not given us an explanation, only

a supervisor came at 7:00 p.m. to say that it was a breakdown

and that they were not going to tow immediately, and five hours later we were still there," this passenger complained.

It is easy to imagine that the train was not prepared for this eventuality:

"The bathrooms are disgusting,

they have not given us anything, there are people with small children who are having a terrible time...".

And in the meantime, the only apparent consolation came when people were informed that they could stop by the cafeteria to order something, but... there was not enough for the 345, so chaos once again in the dining car.

The nightmare was not over either, Ruiz said, in Cuenca: "Now they have left us lying here in the station without giving us any explanation."

The paradox is that the 30 years of the AVE are being celebrated with promotions and ticket sales have been overwhelmed in recent days.

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