A fire on the metro catenary forces the evacuation of the Glòries and El Clot stations
The service has been restored this Tuesday morning after an incident that affected a total of 136 people
BarcelonaA fire on the L1 metro catenary in Barcelona forced the evacuation of the Clot and Glòries stations this Monday afternoon. In addition, a train had to be evacuated at Clot — there is also a Rodalies station there — and metro circulation was stopped at this station where the L1 and L2 lines converge. Some passengers told EFE that nothing could be seen due to the smoke and that they had to use their mobile phones to see and walk through the subway tunnel.
Traffic was restored on Tuesday, according to Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), which announced that the service had started normally from early in the morning. Regarding the cause of the fire, the CEO of TMB, Xavier Flores, explained that for now they believe it is due to a tunnel lining that fell and burned. Technicians are now investigating whether the tunnel lining blanket burned and fell or if it fell and started to burn upon contact with the catenary.
The passengers tried to open the emergency doors by themselves. Once they had achieved their purpose of opening the doors, they went down to the tracks and walked about 200 meters until they reached the platform. Already on the platform, members of the Medical Emergency System (SEM) attended to the passengers as they arrived. "I was in the subway car when the train suddenly stopped in the tunnel. It smelled of smoke, and we saw it starting to enter the car," a passenger recounted.
The SEM has sent 19 ambulances and paramedics have assessed 136 people. Some have been treated with oxygen masks for smoke inhalation. On the other hand, others have been able to go home. Among the people assessed by paramedics, 129 had minor injuries and 7 were in a less serious condition. In total, 39 injured people have been transferred to different hospitals and CUAPs in the city: 6 to CUAP Dos de Maig, 6 to Sant Martí, 6 to Cotxeres, 6 to Pere Camps, 4 to Hospital del Mar, 5 to Hospital Sagrat Cor, and 6 to Hospital de Sant Pau.
This incident was declared around 5:45 p.m. and caused more than a hundred calls to the 112 emergency number from citizens alerting them to the fire. The Barcelona Firefighters responded with 22 units that tackled the fire from both metro entrances, explained Sebastià Massaguer, the corps' chief technician. The fire has now been extinguished and the tunnel has been ventilated. They then began working to remove the affected carriage, Massaguer added.
Altered mobility
The frequency of passage has been altered on both L1 and L2: L1 has stopped operating between Universitat and Sagrera stations, the most central section of the route. Following this incident, TMB has activated alternative buses to cover the affected section.
Several bus lines have also been affected, such as the H12, V25, 62, and 192, which have modified their route on Independència street with Meridiana avenue, near Glòries. Several stops in the area have also been cancelled.
