After the theft of copper cables stopped high-speed services between Madrid and the Andalusian region of southern Spain, thousands of people remained trapped on trains or stuck overnight.
Authorities began an investigation Monday after Sunday’s theft. This served as Minister of Transport Oscar Puente, known as “serious acts of sabotage.”
He added that the theft of the cables took place in five locations, all within a few kilometres of each other on high-speed lines. On Monday morning, Puente said the train operations were “completely recovered.”
The trip’s chaos comes a week after Spain and Portugal suffered a blackout, but the trains were stopped as well. The cause is still unknown.
“A sudden and sudden in the last two weeks – what’s going on?” Kevin, a US tourist, told Reuters, while waiting for thousands of people to be stuck at Madrid’s Attocha station.
More than 10,000 passengers were affected between Madrid, Seville, Malaga, Valencia, Granada and at least 30 trains.
The chaos is influx of tourists into the city ahead of the weekly Feria Festival in Seville after a long weekend in Madrid.
“Now, operations have fully recovered after a very difficult night for commuters and staff who had to deal with them under extremely complicated circumstances,” the Minister of Transport said Monday morning.
He said the location of the theft was in an area accessed via the Forest Trail.
Spanish National Rail Manager Adif said on Monday afternoon that train services were gradually returning to normal.
Earlier that day, the Spanish Ministry of Interior said the country’s civil security forces and police would contact Adif and other authorities to “clear what happened and identify who is responsible.”
Copper prices have skyrocketed in recent years, with cable theft from trains and communications networks rising rapidly.
