"The Mossos d'Esquadra found the train because one of the passengers explained it over the radio."

The AlbiThe massive blackout that left the entire Iberian Peninsula in darkness interrupted all trains, and passengers endured a real ordeal until they were rescued. Some of those who suffered the worst were those traveling on a high-speed train bound for Barcelona, ​​which was passing through Les Garrigues when the power went out. The 590 passengers, after a long wait on the train, were taken to Albi, a town of 800 inhabitants where the city council had set up a pavilion for those affected to spend the night. Inside the train, which connected Madrid with Barcelona, ​​there were passengers of various nationalities who didn't understand what was happening.

"The Mossos d'Esquadra found the train because one of the passengers explained it on the radio and they listened," explains one of the passengers who was accompanying her husband, who is awaiting fibula surgery, to Barcelona. The two had left Murcia at 6:30 and had stopped in Madrid. The train that was supposed to take them to the Catalan capital stopped twenty minutes before one, and the officers didn't arrive until seven in the evening. The wait was very long because, in addition to the lack of information, the air conditioning didn't work, nor did the restrooms, and there was no bar service. Among the passengers were elderly people and some diabetics. "Some had to get off the train and go urinate among the plants," the young woman laments.

When the officers arrived, they explained that the nearest town was Albi and that anyone who could should walk, and the rest would be taken by patrol cars, the Fire Department, or Civil Protection. An ambulance also had to be sent because a woman fell while getting off the train. The residents of Albi also joined the rescue team. "A farmer came to the town and said he'd seen a stopped train, and we went to help," explains Josep Maria Tarragó, one of the improvised volunteers. He made two trips from the train to the pavilion and collected luggage from those who were walking. "It's more than four kilometers long and on a very bad road. Plus, everyone had those suitcases with wheels that work so well on the airport tiles..." he says. The town's children set up a lost and found area where residents left their suitcases, which were later collected by the train passengers. "The people of Albi have been spectacular," explains the young man from Murcia. Other residents of Albi found some passengers wandering around the village looking for a restroom and let them go to the one at their house. The village cooperative went to find a generator so they could open the store, as the affected people hadn't been able to eat for hours.

"People were calm yesterday, but this morning they kept asking when they would be picked up," explain Joan Folch and Cristian Figuerola of Civil Protection. Eleven buses picked them up and took them to Barcelona. The last to leave were the couple from Murcia, who finally took a taxi offered by the insurance company where they had their checkup. This has allowed Albi to return to normal.