PASSENGERS on a Barcelona outer suburban line pulled the emergency cord twice in one day because it was too hot and there was no air-conditioning.
The digital thermometers inside the carriages of the Rodalies R-4 between Manresa and Vilafranca del Penedès reached 40ºC, with no ventilation whatsoever.
Many got off the train at the nearest possible station and waited for another one, because they were beginning to suffocate inside.
Others pulled the emergency cord to alert the driver of the 'emergency'.
It turned out the air-conditioning system in the train had broken down, but after two 'SOS' calls from passengers, the driver contacted the rail board, RENFE's management centre, who arranged for an engineer to fix it during a stop at the Montcada-Bifurcació station.
The train was only delayed by around 10 minutes.
RENFE said the windows on the Rodalies lines do not open 'so the air-conditioning can work better'.
Being inside a vehicle of any kind, including a train, with no air-conditioning in temperatures typical of a Spanish summer with or without a heatwave can be literally life-threatening, meaning the passengers who pulled the cord acted correctly.
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