Christmas Day turned into a nightmare for 500 passengers travelling from Galicia to Cataluña when they were left stranded without heat or food for five hours at Palanquinos station, 17km from León, in temperatures below freezing.

The train left Vigo at 6.15pm, but suffered engine failure at around 2am, which was not repaired until nearly 7am on Monday morning. It finally arrived in Barcelona shortly before 7pm.

A RENFE spokesman indicated that the mechanical fault may have been caused by the cold conditions, and insisted that "all available resources" had been mobilised to resolve the problem, and pointed out that the passengers had been provided with blankets to keep them warm.

The same spokesman added that it was regrettable that the electricity to the cafeteria had been cut which meant that it was impossible to also provide hot drinks and food. It was also unfortunate that Palanquinos station was closed, and that the village itself was too small to provide temporary accommodation for the stranded passengers.

It also seems that a plan to provide coaches to ferry the passengers to their final destinations was considered, but not considered feasible. However, as a gesture of goodwill, the company has agreed to refund the passengers to the full value of their tickets.