The Madrid–Seville high-speed line (LAV) experienced three consecutive days of incidents between 23 and 25 June, resulting in service suspensions, delays and cancellations affecting high-speed, regional and commuter services. Each day’s disruption stemmed from a different cause: an overhead cable incident on 23 June, cable theft in Ciudad Real on 24 June, and a further theft on 25 June.
On Tuesday 23 June, traffic was halted between Sevilla-Santa Justa and Guadajoz after a medium-voltage power line owned by Endesa fell onto the overhead contact system of both the high-speed and conventional lines at La Rinconada. The incident triggered a trackside fire and damage to electrification equipment, requiring repairs before services operated by Renfe, Iryo and Ouigo could resume.
On Wednesday 24 June, delays reoccurred from 17:00 following cable theft between Urda and Malagón, in Ciudad Real province, impacting services across all three operators.
On Thursday 25 June, a signalling failure between Venta la Inés (Ciudad Real) and Conquista (Córdoba) disrupted the start of operations. Once Adif maintenance teams resolved the issue, a further cable theft caused significant delays. According to Adif, the stolen cable affected signalling systems between Ciudad Real and Calatrava. Although official estimates suggested delays of around 15 minutes, passengers reported considerably longer disruptions. The incident was declared resolved at approximately 12:28.
While only one of the incidents can be directly attributed to infrastructure failure, the increasing frequency of cable theft highlights the need for enhanced preventive measures.