The beginning of July has been particularly challenging for the high-speed trains connecting Málaga and Madrid. Specifically, cable thefts near Urda, Malagón, and Ciudad Real have severely impacted the Southern Corridor, with three acts of vandalism occurring in just five days. These incidents have affected Adif, the railway infrastructure administrator, which has already implemented enhanced surveillance in the area.
Adif has announced the addition of two extra patrols to the three already operating in the La Mancha region. This measure is being coordinated with a reinforcement from the State Security Forces and Corps to combat these criminal acts.
According to Adif sources, the three thefts within five days are causing technically difficult-to-resolve incidents, resulting in prolonged service disruptions and inconvenience for travelers, in addition to posing security risks. Delays have reached up to 50 minutes, exceeding an hour in some cases over the weekend. Nationally, six other thefts were recorded last week, bringing the total number of incidents reported by the company this month to nine.
These incidents add to other issues affecting the Southern Corridor, including electrical failures, problems at the Atocha maintenance station, signaling malfunctions, and even a forest fire near the tracks. The high-speed connection to Madrid has experienced a week of continuous disruptions, leading to train delays. In the first eight days of July, Adif has reported six incidents impacting rail traffic between Málaga and the Spanish capital.
This situation is reminiscent of past events. In May of last year, in the same area of Urda, La Sagra, and Mora (Toledo), the Minister of Transport denounced a "serious sabotage" following four cable thefts within a 10-kilometer radius, which affected the line's security systems. Those incidents caused considerable delays on connections to Andalusia, impacting over 6,300 passengers across 21 trains during a holiday return period.
