The railway chaos has taken over, on yet another occasion, the Madrid stations of Atocha and Chamartin. This Sunday, up to 19 trains have been canceled after the incident that occurred this Saturday in a tunnel between these two stations. In it, a convoy without passengers derailed and overturned on the track due to “an axle exit in the tail unit of an empty material during the maneuver” according to Renfe in a statement.
A problem for which, although no injuries were reported, it has led to numerous delays, cancellations and thousands of passengers affected. For all this, Ruben Sanchez, general secretary of FACUA-Consumers in Action, has explained that, those who have found themselves in this situation, They have the right to recover the purchased ticket as well as to claim compensation for the resulting economic damages.
“Passengers have the right to recover the amount of the ticket. And those passengers are now looking for alternative routes. Therefore, the passenger, in addition to the amount of his ticket, can claim from any of the companies that would be involved for damage or harm suffered,” Sánchez highlighted.
Thus, as explained, if passengers have been forced to look for an alternative transport route, What can a plane ticket be like?or having to find an extra night in a hotel, the costs of these two damages can also be claimed from the railway companies. “We are not talking about a cause of force majeure, therefore there is the right of users to claim economic damage,” the spokesperson defended.
Furthermore, as Sánchez has detailed, the first step to do so would be to look for an alternative route. “We have to look for a plane ticket and it costs us 100 euros more than the train ticket, that would be the expense to be claimed that would have to be communicated to the railway company in question together with the fact of the recovery of the original ticket”, he stated.
Thus, as explained, the three railway companies (Renfe, Ouigo and Iryo) are obliged to take responsibility although the incident has occurred for reasons beyond their control, since it was not an incident due to a major cause. “This is not the fault of any company, but they do have a legal responsibility towards the passengers,” he stated.
For its part, Renfe has communicated on its social networks that it guaranteesto refund the amount of the tickets to all those affected. Likewise, they remember that affected users can contact the customer service department to resolve any questions or the station staff.
