A failure in Adif’s computer servers yesterday caused a new day of chaos on high-speed trains to and from Madrid. The incident, registered at mid-morning, forced to stop running trains and to keep trains in station at Atocha and Chamartín, affecting mainly the South and North-West corridors.
Ouigo put the number of affected trains at nine and 3,000 passengers affected, while Iryo reported five delayed trains. Renfe offered free changes and cancellations throughout the day. Several passengers reported delays of more than an hour and the absence of information on departure and arrival boards during part of the incident.
Adif activated the back-up systems, which allowed traffic to gradually recover in the early afternoon, although delays persisted throughout the rest of the day. The conventional network, including Cercanías, operated without disruption.
The breakdown coincided with the appearance of the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, in Congress. Puente defended that Renfe’s average delay is 6.2 minutes this year, although he anticipated two years of incidents due to the coexistence of new and outdated material in the railway network.