Emergency services were called at about 16:05 after a fire broke out in the rear cab of an AVE near Ricla. The disruption affected 33 trains and 12,979 passengers, and nobody was injured. One report put the number of people evacuated at 283, while EFE and Telemadrid reported 380 passengers aboard.
Trains were held at origin stations and along the route. Eighteen had not left their starting stations, while 14 were stopped at stations after traffic was interrupted. Renfe expected all trains held at their origins to be moving by about 23:00. The fire came during the return flow after the Pilar holiday long weekend.
EFE reported that the suspension lasted more than four hours. After firefighters put out the blaze, Adif announced a phased resumption of traffic at about 20:30.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze, allowing infrastructure inspections to begin. Adif began restoring traffic in stages after checking the line. Ara reported that the initial inspection found no serious infrastructure damage and that partial services resumed before the damaged train had been fully removed. The fire damaged the locomotive and the adjacent part of the following carriage.
The AVE was travelling from Madrid Puerta de Atocha-Almudena Grandes to Figueres. The interruption spread beyond the site of the fire: trains could not depart elsewhere, while others waited at stations. Renfe’s figures list 18 trains held at their origin stations and 14 stopped en route, with 33 affected overall.
On the morning of 13 October, trains were running on both tracks along almost the entire Madrid-Barcelona route, but only one track was available at the incident site. El País reported a temporary 80 km/h speed limit between Ricla and Plasencia de Jalón, with trains operating by sight on some sections. The damaged train was still on the tracks as Adif continued removal and infrastructure recovery work.
A phased restart did not mean every delayed service was moving at once. Renfe expected trains held at origin stations to be circulating by about 23:00, while Adif described a staged restoration after infrastructure checks. No separate timetable was provided for each affected train.
The cause of the fire remains unknown. Renfe has opened an investigation and apologised to affected passengers, while stating that rail safety is guaranteed. Reports the following day said the final cause had not been announced.
