News
The Madrid–Barcelona AVE is brought to a halt by a fire in L’Albi
The AVE between Madrid and Barcelona had a difficult Thursday morning because of a vegetation fire declared in L’Albi, in the Lleida comarca of Les Garrigues. The fire, located near the railway infrastructure, forced the suspension of high-speed traffic between Lleida Pirineus and Camp de Tarragona for several hours.
The incident directly affected the Madrid-Zaragoza-Barcelona corridor, one of the country’s most heavily used rail connections. Trains were stopped at different stations while emergency teams worked in the area and Adif waited for authorisation to restore power to the overhead line.
The fire broke out around mid-morning in an area of stubble fields near the LV-7031 road and the railway line. The proximity of the flames to the tracks made action necessary for safety reasons, although the fire did not start within the rail service.
Protecció Civil activated the pre-alert for the Ferrocat plan, designed for emergencies that may affect the rail network. Firefighters from the Generalitat deployed around a dozen units and aerial resources to stabilise the fire and prevent it from advancing towards more sensitive points.
The closure caused delays and disruptions to high-speed and long-distance trains operated by several companies. The impact was not limited to those travelling between Barcelona and Madrid, as it also affected services arriving in or departing from Figueres and other journeys connected to the same corridor.
Services began to recover progressively early in the afternoon, after the fire was stabilised and restoration of the electricity supply to the infrastructure was authorised. Even so, delays continued through part of the day because of the accumulation of stopped trains.
For travellers, the incident left a clear recommendation: check the train’s status before going to the station and pay attention to notices from Renfe, Iryo, Ouigo or the relevant operator. On a line with such high demand, a closure of several hours can disrupt connections, meetings, work trips and planned getaways with little flexibility.
The episode is a reminder of how much high-speed rail also depends on what happens outside the tracks. A fire in nearby fields can paralyse the Barcelona-Madrid axis for hours and turn a normal morning of travel into a chain of waits, delays and changed plans for thousands of passengers.