PASSENGERS on a train across snow-covered Aragón had to be evacuated last night when the line became blocked barely half a kilometre from their station of origin.
The convoy left Canfranc in the Pyrénéen province of Huesca some time after 20.00, but within 300 metres, was unable to go any further because of a snowdrift on the line.
Workers spent nearly an hour trying to clear the track with spades, to no avail.
In the end, they decided to reverse the train into the original station and take the 58 passengers by coach to their destinations, between Canfranc and the terminus at Zaragoza.
Among the 58 were 40 members of the Aragonese workers' union CUT, who had been deprived of their pre-ordered food bags as rail board RENFE wanted to speed up the journey as much as possible due to the falling snow.
This was the only train affected, although the connection between Jaca (Huesca province) and Canfranc was disrupted for around an hour.
Passengers had to wait on the train during the digging operation.
Rail traffic was resumed as normal later last night.
The photograph shows another RENFE train travelling through the snow.
