"Spanish train drivers began a three-day strike on Monday, demanding greater safety for their profession after two accidents claimed 47 lives last month, leaving thousands of passengers stranded."
"Under minimum service requirements, 73 percent of long-distance services and 65 percent of regional trains are due to run, according to state railway company Renfe."
"Victoria Bulgier, an English teacher in her 30s from the United States, who was trying to reach the southern suburb of Getafe, told AFP she "perfectly understood" strikers' demands. "They should not work in conditions that put them in danger," she said."
"Francisco Cardenas, a Renfe official at the UGT union, told AFP at the station that he had "never lived through a railway crisis like this one" in his 41 years at the company."
Spanish train drivers began a three-day strike from February 9 to 11 demanding greater safety after two accidents killed 47 people. Unions accused authorities of ignoring warnings about infrastructure safety and failing to invest sufficiently in the network. Under minimum service rules Renfe must operate 73 percent of long-distance services, 65 percent of regional trains, 75 percent of suburban trains at peak hours and half normal suburban service off-peak. Thousands of passengers faced delays and cancellations at Madrid Atocha while Barcelona Sants saw reduced traffic amid chaos on Catalonia's ageing commuter network. A high-speed collision in Andalusia on January 18 killed 46 people; two days later a commuter train in the Barcelona region ploughed into the rubble.
Read at www.thelocal.es
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]