Business leaders are calling for a review of the Madrid-Valencia high-speed train after the incident at Chamartín.
More than five million users, and a 73.5% increase compared to the previous year, are the figures for the Madrid-Valencia AVE (High Speed Train) in the last "normal" year. Last year, with the suspension of the rail connection due to the flood, traffic experienced a year-on-year drop of 12%, to 1.16 million, but the volume of passengers gives an idea of the importance of this corridor for the Valencian Community. This Thursday, following the incident at the Madrid Chamartín-Clara Campoamor station, 9,000 users of this connection were affected. Adif restored service early Friday morning following the incident, but voices such as that of the Valencian employers' association regret that the incident personally, professionally, and economically harmed "many professionals, business owners, and self-employed workers."
This is the main complaint of the Business Confederation of the Valencian Community (CEV), which yesterday issued a statement expressing its "concern" over what it considers to be "continuous incidents" affecting this high-speed service. They say that Thursday's incident, when high-speed rail service was suspended at Madrid's Chamartín station when the power supply was cut off due to the derailment of the head of a train entering the station, highlights the "fragility" of an infrastructure that "should guarantee punctuality, reliability, and safety."
Read also An incident due to a power outage in Chamartín affects train traffic between Madrid and the Valencian Community. AGENCIES
In its statement, the CEV calls on ADIF and the Ministry of Transport to urgently review the line's infrastructure and maintenance plan; implement rapid emergency response protocols and better coordination between operators; provide clear, timely, and accessible information for users; and invest to "strengthen a strategic connection for the Valencian Community."
The Popular Party (PP), for its part, also criticized the government yesterday following the incident at the Chamartín-Clara Campoamor station. It accused it of "lack of maintenance" and "disorganization," while saying that its management is "ruining a service that was once exemplary." This was stated by the spokesperson for Infrastructure and Transport for the PP group in the Valencian Parliament, Joserra González de Zárate, who accused the government of having neglected the railway infrastructure and treating users with "unacceptable indifference."
The PPCV accuses the government of "abandoning" railway infrastructure. Read also Spending the night at Xàtiva station or spending 12 hours on an AVE train to Valencia: stories of the blackout NEUS NAVARRO
Sources from the Ministry of Transport assure us that the infrastructure is in perfect condition and that yesterday's incident was merely a one-off. They emphasize that the station is still being renovated (high-speed trains enter Chamartín through the main hall, and commuter, medium-, and long-distance trains enter through the central hall), and in fact, progress will be made on this aspect this weekend.
However, sources from the employers' association insist that there are "delays and minor incidents" in addition to last Thursday's incident. Added to this perception is the impact of the train blackout, which paralyzed stations and affected hundreds of passengers; this comes after a devastating storm that cut off the connection between Valencia and Madrid from October 29th to November 14th.
The blackout... and its effectsCaixaBank's analysis of data following the April 28 blackout reveals that it caused a 34% drop in consumer spending among Spanish households that day, as a result of the contraction in consumption using the main payment methods: in-person card payments, withdrawals, and electronic payments. Specifically, in the Valencian Community, consumption fell by 50% that day.
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