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Cable theft causes delays on three Cercanías Madrid lines
The week began with delays for Cercanías Madrid passengers. A cable theft between Vallecas Industrial y Atocha Cercanías disrupted the circulation of lines C-2, C-7 and C-8 on the morning of Monday, 24 August. These three corridors are used to enter the centre from the east of the region.
The incident caused delays for trains passing through this section, one of the access points to Atocha for services coming from municipalities such as Alcalá de Henares, Torrejón or Guadalajara, as well as for passengers continuing on to other parts of Madrid.
The delays were felt during the early hours of the day, when the network handles a large share of commuter traffic. For those needing to transfer at Atocha to the Metro, other Cercanías lines or rail services, a few extra minutes could easily affect the rest of their journey.
Adif confirmed that the cause of the incident was a cable theft from the railway infrastructure. This type of damage can affect systems related to train circulation and requires intervention before normal service frequencies can be fully restored.
By late morning, the problem had been resolved. Trains then began to gradually return to their usual intervals, although some delays persisted for a while as a result of the incident.
This episode comes just a few days after another cable theft that affected the C-2 and C-8 in Azuqueca de Henares. On 19 August, that incident lasted around seven hours, led to the cancellation of about ten trains and caused average delays of between 10 and 12 minutes on another 27 services.
For regular travellers on the Henares corridor, these disruptions have an immediate impact on daily routines. Atocha serves as one of Madrid's main interchange points, and any problem at its access points quickly spreads to stations and connections several kilometres away.
At least this Monday, the incident was resolved before the day progressed. The C-2, C-7 and C-8 have returned to normal service after a morning in which a relatively short stretch between Vallecas Industrial and Atocha once again affected thousands of journeys across the Madrid network.