CanalSur reported that railway infrastructure management (Adif – Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviariashas) has informed Renfe, Iryo, and Ouigo that the direct high-speed rail service from Málaga to Madrid will not resume until at least March 23rd, as they continue to repair the damage caused by recent storms, which has closed the line since February 4th near Álora, as a result of a landslide.
The journey from Málaga to Antequera-Santa Ana station has since been made by road, and passengers are then able to travel from Santa Ana to Madrid by train.
The delay in reopening the line will directly affect the Málaga Film Festival and, later, the lead-up to Holy Week, with the likely result that the arrival of domestic tourists and the Málaga economy will suffer. The president of the Málaga Provincial Council and of Costa del Sol Tourism, Francisco Salado, complained of a “lack of transparency” on the part of Adif and the Ministry of Transport, and bitterly regretted this “further delay” in the expected reopening of the direct AVE high-speed line to Madrid.
“It is incomprehensible that, at this point, with Easter just around the corner, we still lack precise information as to the return of a normal high-speed rail service”, he said, as he warned of the impact on the province’s economy.
Read the story at CanalSur (in Spanish) here.