This is a news article from Dutch Media.... I have used a translation program but this is bizar.... And no this not a april fools joke..... A train driver in the north of Spain left a train with eighty passengers behind because he felt he had worked enough. He parked the train at a small station and left. After he was long gone, a message appeared on the screens: 'The train driver's workday is over.' This incident occurred on the evening before the Easter weekend. The train was en route from Madrid to the city of León in the north of Spain but was stranded 61 kilometers before its final destination, in the village of Sahagún, which has a population of 2600. Before he left, the train driver announced that the train could not continue because the track between Sahagún and León was blocked. Continuing via the highway When the passengers felt that it was all taking too long and a few went to see what was happening, it turned out that the train driver had disappeared. Later on, the passengers read on the screens in the carriages that the train driver was gone because his hours were up and that they had to use alternative transportation. Renfe, the train company owned by the Spanish state, defends its driver by reporting that he indeed had an excessively long workday. Earlier in the day, he had driven a train that was delayed by 88 minutes. As a result, his schedule changed, and near Sahagún, he exceeded his maximum working hours according to Renfe. According to the rules Renfe also adds that Spanish drivers indeed have 8-hour workdays, but they are only allowed to drive a train for 5.5 consecutive hours. This rule is intended to ensure that drivers remain focused. The 88 minutes that the driver spent in his stationary train due to the delay earlier in the day do not count as a break according to Renfe. In a surprising incident in northern Spain, a train driver left a train with eighty passengers at a small station because he had completed his work hours. The event occurred on the eve of the Easter weekend. The train, traveling from Madrid to the city of León, stopped 61 kilometers short of its destination in the village of Sahagún. Before leaving, the driver announced that the train could not proceed further due to a track blockage between Sahagún and León. Renfe, the Spanish state-owned train company, defended the driver, stating that he had indeed worked an excessively long day. Earlier, he had driven a train that was delayed by 88 minutes, altering his schedule and causing him to exceed his maximum working hours at Sahagún. According to Renfe's rules, Spanish train drivers have 8-hour workdays but are only allowed to drive for 5.5 consecutive hours to remain focused. The 88 minutes spent in the stationary train due to the earlier delay do not count as a break. Eventually, all passengers were picked up by buses two hours later and taken to their final destination. One of the passengers shared the story on social media and with the press, expressing dismay over Renfe's response to the driver's actions. This incident comes at an inconvenient time for Renfe, which recently faced competition from two private train companies, one with French ownership and the other with Italian stakeholders. These competitors offer train tickets at much lower prices than Renfe, pushing the state-owned company into financial difficulties. Dutch Source https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/art...-verlaat-trein-met-80-passagiers-spanje-renfe
This sounds like management’s fault. They should know when a driver is coming close to maxing out and arrange for substitution at an intermediate station.
Hahahaha yeah.... Yeah sure but its not nice to leave the train behind with all of youre guests.... Normaly you should wait for a response and arrange a solution
In the U.S., driving a train after you have maxed out your hours is flat out illegal. The driver never should have been put in that situation.
Thats infact correct but not to leave your'e train and leave the train without any noticed. You have mostly also other trainstaf that have to know that your'e time is up and than you stay at your'e train until there is a proper solution for your'e passengers. Its absolutely unprofessionell to do so as described in my text.... But yes the company is wrong here as well so the excuses that RENFE here brings are way to far and they dind't look in to the mirror at all....
Illegal, but most roads plan ahead for it. This kind of scenario would be close to unheard of here, especially with a passenger railroad. Passenger roads watch their crew schedules closely and plan ahead for crew changes, and freight railroads try to do the same thing. You do see some freight trains accidentally kill their hours and have to tie up in some inconvenient spots, but most of the time they time their crew changes pretty well. Although I do seem to recall CSX having one incident a few years ago on the B&A with a crew timing out in an inconvenient spot and tying up the main for an unfortunate amount of time.
I agree the driver was in the right, he probably would have got blamed for going over the work time otherwise aswell.
can it be proven they didn’t say anything or was the article perhaps not including such info. Plenty of things like the driver informed someone at the station who then didn’t relay that info to the passengers or something like that could have happened.
"When the passengers felt that it was all taking too long and a few went to see what was happening, it turned out that the train driver had disappeared."
