• Infraestructuras Renfe is charged as a 'scapegoat' to a technician of the Extremaduran train line due to the multiple incidents and delays since the inauguration

  • Politics The new Extremaduran train, inaugurated between protests: "This is not an AVE, it is the witch's train"

The Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, has assured that her department is working to reverse the situation of the trains in

Extremadura

"as soon as possible", which, in her opinion, is not "admissible".

Sánchez has been "aware" that there are delays in the trains after the commissioning, this past Tuesday, of the new Alvia train in the region, and that the service that is being offered "is neither the expected nor the that users deserve".

For this reason, the minister has asked for "apologies" and has reported that this Thursday morning she has held an urgent meeting with the president of Renfe,

Isaías Táboas,

and the president of Adif,

María Luisa Domínguez,

and already action is being taken.

In this sense, the minister has confessed that "certain incidents are normal in the first days of commissioning", but she understands that "this situation is not admissible", for which they are working "to reverse it as soon as possible", she assured .

Similarly, he has advanced that this Friday the president of Renfe and the president of Adif will be in Extremadura to "give explanations and put measures on the table with transparency, rigor and with solutions".

All this comes after the fifth incidence in three days of service.

This Thursday the new service has not been saved from them either.

The Alvia made its fifth commercial journey this morning in the region with five incidents.

In this case, the train had to travel at 30 km/h from

Cáceres

to

Monfragüe

due to a failure in the electrical supply of the security and signaling installations.

Adif first pointed out that there had been a power failure in a section of the new track about 30 kilometers north of the Cáceres station.

Finally, he confirmed that the problem had not been due to a lack of electrical voltage but had to do with the signaling.

The fact is that the trip left Badajoz at 7:25 am and arrived at

Atocha

station at 12:53 pm;

that is, one hour and 10 minutes late on schedule.

The average speed of today's trip was 78 km/h, worsening his best record of 89 km/h.

R. Sánchez with the president at the inauguration of the train.DV

Faced with the wave of indignation unleashed in public opinion in Extremadura since the inauguration last Monday, in which King Felipe VI was even invited by the Ministry of Transport, the Junta de Extremadura has tried to blame all the problems on Renfe and Adif , to whom he has demanded that they "immediately adopt solutions, explanations and responsibilities", with the aim that "tomorrow the trains circulate with due normality, which is punctual and providing the best possible service to citizens", according to assured in an urgently convened press conference the Extremaduran Minister of Mobility and Transport,

Leire Iglesias.

Likewise, he asked those responsible for the Ministry of Transport to "show their faces" and explain to Extremadurans and the regional Executive "what is the reason for this absolutely unlikely, unexpected and unprecedented chain of incidents".

He also demanded that "the necessary responsibilities be assumed" in this situation, since "if, despite multiple tests, both of the material and the infrastructure, something did not work correctly, the line should not have been put into service ".

Renfe's decision this Wednesday to dismiss the manager of the production of the Madrid-Extremadura line has far from calmed down the spirits in Extremadura after a trajectory already vitiated from the beginning, when in the Ministry's invitations to the inauguration act they included the term AVE de Extremadura, which is not such, because the works are not finished, the train is diesel and the electrification of the platform is expected to end next year, in addition to passing for many kilometers along the old track.

Precisely, this Tuesday, on the inaugural trip, at the beginning of its first journey, during the Badajoz-Mérida section, the train ignored the new track.

Then came stoppages, damaged machines and delays in trips of more than an hour during these days.

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