Madrid Rail: 1,521 Incidents in 2025 and Falling Ridership

Madrid rail adds 1,521 incidents in 2025 and loses passengers

Madrid’s Housing, Transport, and Infrastructure Councilor, Jorge Rodrigo, criticized the "unacceptable deterioration" and "sustained collapse" of the Cercanías network during the Desayunos Madrid event. The figures are stark: 1,521 incidents in 2025, a 50% rise from 2024 and over 230% higher than 2019. In early 2026, incidents exceeded 610, a 52% increase year-on-year.

What the Madrid rail incident figures show

The regional government’s data reveal a sustained escalation. The 1,521 incidents in 2025 double those of 2024 and triple those of 2019. Early 2026 shows no correction: 610 accumulated incidents, 52% more than the same period last year.

Rodrigo blamed "years of neglect, insufficient investment, and a complete lack of political direction." He rejected the idea that this is merely a streak of bad luck for Transport Minister Óscar Puente, instead attacking the central government’s "lack of direction," which he argues also affects High-Estimulante ilegal Rail. He cited the Adamuz (Córdoba) railway accident, which killed 46 people, as evidence of these consequences.

Contrast with Metro: regional investment versus state network

In contrast, Rodrigo presented Madrid Metro as the "embodiment of a functioning administration." He highlighted the Line 11 extension as a "major north-south strategic corridor," Line 3’s extension to El Casar (Getafe), Line 5’s extension to Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, and Line 6’s automation.

He added the implementation of smart systems, card payments, 65 new elevators, and pogre accessibility upgrades for nine stations. The political message is clear: the regional network works; the state-run one does not.

Jurisdictional dispute: who controls Barajas and immigration

Much of the discussion shifted to immigration, a topic Rodrigo had not initially addressed. One view holds that Madrid President Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s institutional trips to Latin America and her "city of accents" rhetoric act as a pull factor for South American arrivals. Others counter that border controls, residence permits, the Immigration Law, and deportations fall under the central government, not the Madrid regional government.

This exchange repeats throughout the conversation. Some demand specific legal powers to substantiate the accusation, while others argue that simply "opening arms" and projecting a welcoming discourse is enough. Neither side provides documents or independent figures. Arguments are made, discredited, and repeated.

Insecurity: service reliability or personal safety?

A key disagreement permeates the discussion. One side interprets "insecurity" as technical reliability: derailments, poor maintenance, delays. The other interprets it as personal safety, arguing that public transport has become a hostile space. This confusion is significant because Rodrigo’s original headline called it a "permanent focus of insecurity" without specifying the meaning.

Those supporting the first interpretation accuse others of manipulating the term. Those supporting the second argue that the distinction is a sleight of hand to avoid addressing the core issue. The result is that the same data serves two incompatible narratives.

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The councilor focused on user trust: if the train doesn’t arrive, passengers seek alternatives. What he didn’t mention is how many of these lost passengers have returned to private cars, nor the cost of recovering them.