Fire on AVE train halts Barcelona-Madrid high-speed service

Around mid-afternoon, a fire ignited in the tail car of an AVE service that had departed Madrid's Atocha station at 14:27, bringing the train to a halt near Ricla, Zaragoza. Although Renfe described the event as a "conato de incendio," video footage showed intense flames before firefighters contained the fire. All 283 passengers were safely evacuated to a secure area, and no injuries were reported.

Renfe has activated free ticket changes and refunds for passengers on other trains scheduled for the day. The outage extends to the entire high-speed corridor, affecting Iryo and Ouigo services as well. Adif, the rail infrastructure manager, is evaluating the extent of the damage, and no timeline for restoring service has been provided.