I am reading on travel forums that the trains between Madrid and Andalucia are cancelled until Mid December. There is NOTHING about this on the Renfe website. Do I need to just contact them directly? Is there any chance our train from (Barcelona to Madrid, then) Madrid to Granada will be running December 5th or should I try to cancel and book a flight from Barcelona to Granada instead?
Where are people seeing that the trains are cancelled if their website says nothing?
It’s the Madrid-Sevilla line that is out of service until at least mid-December due to the accident that occurred on 28 October in Urda. That’s when service on that line was suspended. You wouldn’t get a different answer by contacting Renfe.
On the Renfe site, if looking at trains from Madrid to Sevilla, it says “train temporarily unavailable.”
The couple regional trains on the schedule go through Extremadura towns, and Zafra before going to Sevilla.
For the Madrid-Granada train, the site says, “tickets are not available for sale at the moment or there is no direct connection.”
Barcelona- Madrid trains seem to be running normally with plenty of departures.
Thank you. We got a ticket that goes from Barcelona to Madrid, then Madrid to Granada. What is annoying is when I enter my "Localizador" number that is printed on the tickets they sent me, their website states no tickets exist. So, it looks like I may be calling them to figure it out.
Ideally, we can just get a flight from Barcelona to Granada and get a refund for our train tickets. It was 385 Euros, so not a cheap train ticket to just let go of!
The Renfe website seems to be glitchy, generally. I am now trying to book a train ticket from Granada to Córdoba and it keeps choosing the wrong date. I think calling will be the better option.
You might try the Renfe app. I haven't used it, but sometimes apps work better than websites for ticket purchase.
The date confusion is something that crops up on a fair number of purchases from European websites, including some hotel websites. In addition to checking out the app, you might try your transaction early in the day so the date in Spain is the same. Some folks have been successful resetting the clock on the device to match the target country's time zone. I have never done that myself.
The real problem is that RENFE simply don't know when they will be able to run trains. Trains are simply cancelled until further notice.
RENFE, Iryo and the other companies only run trains, the track is maintained by a company called ADIF. As and when the track and other infrastructure is repaired by ADIF the Spanish Rail Inspectorate then have to approve the repairs. After that happens 96 hours notice has to be given to the train crew of their rosters and stranded trains have to be returned to where they need to be.
Given that the reality is that an amended signalling system is now needed that will all take time. So for service on 5 December the track would have to be fully rebuilt and approved for service with a different signalling system by 1 December. That is the earliest date anyone at all will know if trains will be running on 5 December.
Details of the rail replacement bus service on the northern section of the line are on the Spanish language version of the RENFE website- https://www.renfe.com/content/dam/renfe-viajeros/home/plan-alternativo-de-transporte-1.pdf
From everything which is being said by informed professional sources the likelihood of there being any real service known to be running by 2 weeks time would seem to be pretty unlikely. Not a zero chance, but a very small chance. If service is running it will probably be a very basic service, nothing like full frequency.
Given the very well developed long distance bus network in Spain RENFE etc don't seem to feel the need to duplicate those services with their own rail replacement buses.
Yeah, we are thinking the best option is a refund and flying from Barcelona to Granada, which is honestly cheaper and faster, so I'm kicking myself a little I didn't choose that option in the first place. Ironically, I had just heard such good things about Spain's high speed rail system, I wanted to try it for our trip! Ha! It will make for a good story one day (I'm a playwright, so all adventured are fodder for storytelling).
I just hope I can get the refund. That's my next step.
When in doubt, call. That took about 3 minutes. ;-)
