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The week starts with problems for those travelling by train. Renfe has been forced to cancel a total of 320 services this Monday 29 June due to the strike called by the Railway Union (SF), a walkout that comes just as many workers are starting their summer holidays.
Despite the strike, the minimum services set by the Ministry of Transport will keep much of the operation running. On high-speed and long-distance routes, 262 trains will run, equivalent to 73% of normal services. On regional services, 420 trains will be maintained, 65% of the usual timetable. The hardest hit will be commuter services, where activity will be cut in half, with 75% of trains running only in peak hours: from 6.00 to 9.00, 13.30 to 16.00 and 18.30 to 20.30.
The company is offering affected passengers the option to travel on the train closest to their original departure time or, if they prefer, to change or cancel their ticket free of charge through the usual channels. The list of cancelled trains can be consulted on the operator’s website. (source in Spanish)
This Monday’s stoppage is only the first of two 24-hour strikes: the second is scheduled for 15 July. The dispute centres on the future of Renfe Mercancías, the freight arm of the company. The union denounces what it calls the subsidiary’s “premeditated abandonment” and rejects the creation of a joint venture with Medway, part of the MSC group. According to the organisation, the company has broken the agreements that halted previous strikes, signed in November 2023 with the ministry and extended in March 2025, by reducing the division’s workload.
The SF also points to the outsourcing of maintenance for 65 locomotives in the 333.3 series, a task that until now had been carried out by Renfe’s own staff, and to the announced closure of the Rolling Stock Workshop in Miranda de Ebro.