Barcelona-Madrid high-speed rail delays continue after train fire

High-speed rail services between Barcelona and Madrid were still experiencing delays on Tuesday morning after a fire on an AVE train on Monday forced services to be suspended.

The disruption has caused overcrowding and long queues at Barcelona's Sants station, with some passengers describing the situation as "chaos."

Crowds of people gathered in the station concourse, unable to access the high-speed rail waiting area until their platform had been assigned.

Some trains departing from Barcelona were running more than two hours late.

At around 4.05pm on Monday, a fire broke out in the rear cab of a train travelling from Madrid to Figueres, near Ricla in Zaragoza, Aragon.

All 283 passengers on board were evacuated, and no injuries were reported.

The incident brought high-speed traffic to a halt on the route.

Partial services resumed late on Monday evening after the fire was extinguished and railway infrastructure inspected, but damage to the line has continued to constrain operations.

Trains are running on a single track between Ricla and Plasencia de Jalón, with a temporary speed limit of 80 km/h in force while crews remove damaged equipment and repair the infrastructure.

The restrictions have reduced capacity and increased journey times, Renfe, Spain's state-owned rail operator, said.

On Monday, Renfe reported that 33 trains and 12,979 passengers were affected by the disruption.

Eighteen trains were unable to depart from their origin stations, while 14 were stranded at stations along the route.

The figures did not include all passengers travelling with other operators or those whose services had not yet departed.

To keep services running while repairs continue, Renfe has reorganised some departures by coupling trains together and adjusting timetables.

Several combined AVE services operated on Tuesday morning, using the departure times originally allocated to later trains.

The arrangements are due to continue throughout the day, with some services running up to an hour behind their original schedules, according to Renfe. 

The operator said the measures would help make the best use of available capacity and allow as many passengers as possible to travel while work continues to restore the line to normal operation.

Passengers travelling between Madrid and Barcelona have been warned to expect delays to both departures and arrivals.

Renfe is offering free ticket changes and refunds for all services on the route.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.