Spain-Portugal power outage latest: ‘We slept on the floor like dogs’ say passengers, as officials investigate power cut cause

Esperanza Escribano
Reporting from Barcelona

People with tickets to travel from Barcelona train station yesterday spent the night there and are still unable to leave this morning, leading to growing frustration.

Ariani says she has been at the station since 20:00 last night with a 10-year-old girl and has “gotten no answers” about when they could start their journey to Madrid.

She says others with tickets for today are “being prioritised”.

“People with trains at 05:00 are showing up freshly showered, slept at home, and they go right ahead,” she said. “We all slept on the floor like dogs.”

Irene, also travelling to Madrid with her children aged 15 and 10, says they are meant to travel at 14:00 yesterday.

“There were no hotels – all the nearby ones were full. I couldn’t connect to book anything, and we didn’t dare leave because we thought service would resume early,” she says.

A man says some people are buying new tickets to travel today, but argues yesterday’s passengers “should be given priority”.

“Since 00:30, we’ve had no updates. Rail staff gave us half a litre of water to survive on and no information at all.”

Image source, Reuters