Cercanías Madrid loses nearly half of its minimum services due to strike

Renfe is allowing tickets for services scheduled for this Thursday, 29 October, to be changed or cancelled free of charge. This measure comes on a day when the company acknowledges difficulties in providing some of the minimum services, with a particularly high impact on Cercanías Madrid.

In that network, 48.29% of minimum services are listed as cancelled and 33.17% as services not running. These are different categories for monitoring the strike: the latter measures the participation of workers who could join it.

Renfe reports a 15.16% participation rate among staff able to take part during the morning shift. For the night shift, the reported figure was 2.19%.

The Semaf call affects driving staff across all companies in the Renfe group. The operator acknowledges disruptions to trains included in the minimum services, both commercial and public.

Across the Servicios Públicos, which include Cercanías, Rodalies, Avant y Media Distancia, Renfe reports 17.04% of minimum services cancelled and 28.64% not running. In Rodalies Catalunya, the figures are 4.61% and 48.85%, respectively.

Andalucía has recorded 7.84% cancellations and 29.41% of services not running. In Extremadura, 22.22% of minimum services have been cancelled, while in the Este area the percentages are 11.48% and 13.93%. Renfe does not provide the figure for services not running in Extremadura.

For commercial services, which include AVE, Avlo, Alvia, Euromed e Intercity, Renfe has cancelled six of the 48 scheduled trains within the minimum services. This amounts to 12.5%.

On the Levante corridor, 22.2% of Alta Velocidad services and 20% of Euromed have been cancelled. On the Norte corridor, one of the eleven scheduled Alvia trains has been cancelled, or 9.1%.

The list of affected trains includes connections between Madrid-Barcelona and Barcelona-Madrid, as well as services between Madrid and Figueres, Madrid and Valencia, and Castelló y Madrid. There are also trains to or from Pamplona, A Coruña, Vigo, Lugo, Gijón, Alicante, León y Burgos.

The company recommends avoiding travel where possible and will notify passengers whose trains are affected. Notifications will be sent by SMS or email to the contact details associated with each booking.

The operator states that it respects its staff’s right to strike and regrets the consequences for users. In its statement, Renfe says: “Renfe deeply respects, as it could not be otherwise, the right of its professionals to strike.”