Copper cable thefts in Spain leave passengers trapped in trains overnight

MADRID (Reuters) - Copper thieves brought portion of Spain's high-speed bid web to a standstill connected Sunday evening, leaving immoderate trapped successful trains overnight and thousands stranded astatine stations.

Thieves stole cables successful 4 areas wrong a 10-kilometre radius successful what Transport Minister Oscar Puente called a "serious enactment of sabotage" successful a station connected X.

Train services connected the affected lines were suspended Sunday evening, and portion connected Monday greeting a fewer trains near Madrid for Toledo, 70 kilometres south, services to cities specified arsenic Seville and Malaga further southbound were inactive suspended, Adif said connected X.

Thousands of radical were near waiting successful Madrid's Atocha station. It comes aft hundreds of passengers were near trapped connected trains past week during a nationwide blackout.

Nine trains were near stranded betwixt stations, with galore passengers forced to walk the nighttime onboard, according to interviews connected authorities broadcaster TVE.

The state-owned railway infrastructure relation Adif said its unit were moving to regenerate the stolen cables and reestablish the service.

The high-speed web has rapidly expanded successful Spain arsenic portion of a authorities propulsion to decarbonise nationalist transport.

The web connects astir each the country's large cities but is susceptible to cablegram thefts due to the fact that it crosses ample swathes of bare countryside.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro; editing by Charlie Devereux, Alexandra Hudson)