Spanish trains resume service after cable theft halted high-speed routes

MADRID (Reuters) -Spain's high-speed trains between Madrid and the southern region of Andalusia resumed on Monday after thefts of copper cables brought them to a standstill on Sunday evening, leaving passengers trapped in trains overnight and stranded at stations.

Thieves stole cables in four areas within a 10-kilometre radius in what Transport Minister Oscar Puente called a "serious act of sabotage" in a post on X.

State-owned national rail infrastructure operator Adif said train circulation will gradually return to normal.

Thousands of people were left waiting in Madrid's Atocha station. It comes after hundreds of passengers were left trapped on trains last week during a nationwide blackout.

"All of a sudden in the last two weeks (this happens). What is going on?" said Kevin, a retired visitor from the United States waiting at Madrid's Atocha station.

"I am amazed that this is happening here," lawyer Carlos Zuzunaga, 38, told Reuters, as he prepared to catch a train to Andalusia's capital.

Nine trains were left stranded between stations, with many passengers forced to spend the night onboard, according to interviews on state broadcaster TVE.

The high-speed network has rapidly expanded in Spain as part of a government push to decarbonise public transport.

The network connects almost all the country's big cities but is vulnerable to cable thefts because it crosses large swathes of empty countryside.

The disruption came at the end of a long weekend in Madrid and before the Feria festival in Seville.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro, additional reporting by Elena Rodriguez; editing by Charlie Devereux, Alexandra Hudson)