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A gas leak in Ventas cuts several Metro lines and disrupts much of the morning in Madrid
Madrid has had a difficult morning on the Metro after a gas leak was detected in the Ventas area. The incident, caused by the accidental rupture of a pipe during station refurbishment works, has forced the suspension of services on sections of lines 2, 5 and 6, leaving thousands of passengers having to rearrange their journeys on the spot.
The closure began at around 10:00 and was later extended as a precaution. On line 2, service was suspended between Alsacia and Sevilla; on line 5, between El Capricho and Gran Vía; and on line 6, between O’Donnell and Nuevos Ministerios. In total, the incident affected around thirty stations at different points during the morning.
The leak occurred during modernisation and accessibility works at Ventas, when workers damaged a gas pipe. Metro explained that the closures were imposed for safety reasons, while firefighters, Policía Municipal and emergency services worked around the station.
For users, the problem was not only the closure, but the chain of changes it caused. Closed stations, impossible interchanges, more crowded buses and people walking between stops marked much of the morning in the east and centre of the city. Many passengers had to look for surface-level alternatives without a clear forecast of reopening.
Line 6 began to restore service during the afternoon, but lines 2 and 5 continued to accumulate incidents and closed sections for longer. The lack of an official time for normalisation kept uncertainty high among those who relied on the underground to return to work, get to an appointment or cross the city.
The episode has also reopened political criticism. The opposition has demanded explanations over the handling of an incident it considers especially serious, while trade unions and emergency services maintain that the preventive evacuation was necessary given any risk of gas accumulating in tunnels or stations.
The Ventas incident is a reminder of the extent to which Metro supports daily life in Madrid. When several sections fail at once, the impact spreads quickly: buses become overcrowded, journey times increase and the whole city seems to lose coordination for a few hours. This time, moreover, the origin in construction works once again puts the focus on how refurbishments are carried out within a network that cannot afford too many mistakes.