In partnership with
WaypointSur
Edited by Andrew Lawrence
The line to Madrid is shut
On 28 October a train crashed between Mora and Urda, in Toledo province. The official provisional count is 69 dead. The number injured has not been confirmed. Our thoughts are with them and their families.
If you hold a high-speed ticket between Málaga and Madrid for the coming weeks, for work, a long-haul flight from Barajas, an appointment or visitors coming down, this issue is about what to do with it. If you have no Madrid train ticket, you can stop here.
The Madrid–Andalucía high-speed line is shut. Nobody has published a reopening date. Renfe is not selling Madrid–Andalucía high-speed tickets for travel before 13 December. That is a sales decision, and it says nothing about when the line reopens.
This is the second time this year the Madrid line has shut. Málaga got its full service back, both tracks and direct trains, only on 17 July.
Read the notice before the help page
Renfe put out a notice on 28 October. It lets anyone with a ticket on an affected train change or cancel for free, through renfe.com, the Renfe app or 912 320 320. Renfe asks that nobody call 900 10 10 20. That line is kept for victims' families.
Renfe's ordinary cancellation-help page leaves that free cancellation out. It still shows the normal fare rules. Under those, a Básico — basic fare ticket normally gets no refund. Go by that page and you would think the ticket is lost.
So read Renfe's 28 October notice first. Then decide what to do with the ticket.
Your three choices
EU rail rules give you the choice. They apply when your train is expected to get you to your final stop at least 60 minutes late. A cancelled train counts. A missed connection counts too, though that only matters if your trip has a change.
A refund. You get the money back for the part of the trip you have not made. If you are already part way there and the trip is now pointless, you get the money back for the part you have made as well, and a trip back to where you started if you need one. That is the one for a trip whose reason has gone.
A re-route. The train company gets you to your destination on similar terms, as soon as it can. When the company arranges it, you pay nothing extra, even if that means another kind of transport or a higher class. Take this if you still have to be in Madrid on the day.
The same trip on a later date, when it suits you. For anyone whose date can move, this keeps the ticket rather than starting again.
One more rule. Count 100 minutes from when your train was due to leave, or from the connection you missed. If the train company has not told you your re-routing options by then, you may book your own train, coach or bus and claim the cost back from the train company, as long as it was necessary, appropriate and reasonable. A flight you book yourself is not covered; the flights below are paid options.
Iryo and Ouigo
Iryo has cancelled its southern trains and gives no restart estimate. The same three choices apply. Contact: 900 926 851 or [email protected].
Ouigo has cancelled all its Madrid–Andalucía trains through Monday 9 November. You get the normal train refund or change. Ouigo also refunds a replacement coach ticket, on three conditions.
Buy the coach ticket through Ouigo's Movelia page, the coach-booking site Ouigo uses. Travel between 28 October and 9 November, or before the reopening if that comes sooner. Use the same passenger names and the same email address as on the train booking.
Getting to Madrid anyway
Checked 2 November 2026.
Iberia and Iberia Express have capped Madrid–Andalucía fares at €99 each way in Economy and €149 in Business, for travel through Sunday 8 November. Iberia says it is working on more flights from 9 November. Questions about the disruption go to 900 111 500.
If you hold a rail-and-air Train & Fly ticket, changes go through Iberia-authorised channels. The information line for that is 901 111 500.
Volotea is adding extra Madrid–Málaga flights from 13 November to 16 December, capped at €75 basic or €99 with a 10 kg cabin bag, for each journey. Volotea starts at five flights a week and goes to six from December.
Wizz Air has announced Madrid–Málaga flights twice a day from Friday 6 November until about mid-December.
Coaches run Málaga–Madrid. The extra late-October coaches took about six and a half hours. Check the operator for your date.
Renfe said it would announce a replacement plan. By late on Monday 2 November we had found nothing published that brings one to Málaga.
Spanish-lite
Two for the phone or the ticket counter:
Quiero anular mi billete sin coste por el accidente de Urda. — I want to cancel my ticket free of charge because of the Urda accident.
¿Qué alternativa me ofrecen para llegar a Madrid? — What alternative are you offering me to get to Madrid?
The bottom line
The free cancellation is in Renfe's notice of 28 October, and its ordinary help page does not mention it. Read the notice, then take one of the three choices the law gives you: your money back, another way there at the train company's expense, or the same trip later. Nobody has published a reopening date, so pick one of the three now rather than wait for one.
See you on the paseo — A. and the WaypointSur team, keeping the Madrid plans in pencil for now.
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