Málaga Metro Evacuated in City Centre Tunnel After Power Glitch Halts Line Scores of commuters were led to safety through underground rail tunnels after a Málaga Metro convoy broke down between stations, prompting emergency bypass protocols. Power Failure Brings Trains to a Standstill Under Guadalmedina A Málaga Metro service ground to an unscheduled halt beneath the city centre on Tuesday, after a mechanical and electrical fault cut power to a convoy on the stretch approaching Guadalmedina station. The stoppage, which struck shortly before midday, left passengers sitting in a darkened carriage underground and forced engineers and transport officers to carry out a full evacuation through the tunnel itself rather than wait for a recovery locomotive. It was an unglamorous Tuesday lunchtime that turned, briefly, into a genuine test of the network's emergency procedures — and, by most accounts, one it passed without serious incident. What Happened Inside the Tunnel Passengers on board described the train slowing suddenly before the lights and power cut out entirely. Emergency lighting flickered on within the carriages as staff moved through to reassure commuters that the situation was under control. Rather than leaving riders stranded while heavy recovery equipment was brought in, safety marshals took the decision to open the doors and guide people along the secured walkway that runs the length of the tunnel bore — a standard but rarely used contingency built into the system's underground sections. Evacuees were walked towards the lit platforms at Guadalmedina, where station staff and medical personnel were waiting. No injuries were reported, though a handful of passengers reportedly felt the strain of a few uncomfortable minutes in the dark, enclosed space before reaching open air. From the moment the train first lost power to the point the tunnel was fully cleared of passengers, the whole operation took roughly 25 minutes — a timeframe transport officials have since pointed to as evidence the protocol worked as intended. Knock-On Delays Across the Network Metro de Málaga, which operates the city's two-line underground and surface network, moved quickly to limit disruption elsewhere on the system. Engineers activated a single-track crossover so that services could bypass the stalled train, keeping at least a reduced service running rather than suspending operations outright. That workaround meant commuters travelling between the western residential districts, the Teatinos university campus and the shopping streets of the centre faced delays of between 15 and 25 minutes while the fault was contained — frustrating for anyone trying to make a midday appointment, but far short of a full network shutdown. The affected train itself had to be towed out of service to the maintenance depot at Los Asperones once the line was clear, a process that took several hours as technicians worked to isolate exactly what had caused the propulsion and signalling systems to fail simultaneously. Full double-track frequencies only returned that evening, once safety inspectors had gone over the signalling grid and confirmed no lasting damage. Why This Matters for a Growing City The Málaga Metro's underground extension beneath the Guadalmedina riverbed, linking the suburbs to the historic centre and the Atarazanas market area, has become one of the busiest additions to the city's public transport network since it opened, with tens of thousands of journeys made on it daily. For the growing number of international residents, students and suburban commuters who have swapped car journeys for the metro, incidents like Tuesday's are a reminder of how dependent the city centre has become on a system that is still, in relative terms, young. City mobility officials were keen to stress that the evacuation itself went smoothly and without injury, framing it as proof that the tunnel's emergency design works under real conditions rather than just on paper. That said, regional consumer associations have used the episode to renew calls for continued investment in the network's hardware, warning that rising passenger numbers — particularly during the autumn months when both tourist footfall and resident commuting overlap — leave little margin for repeated faults of this kind. For residents and visitors relying on the metro over the coming weeks, the practical takeaway is straightforward: services are running normally again, but Tuesday's breakdown is likely to keep pressure on Málaga public transport operators to show the ageing and expanding system can keep pace with how quickly the city around it is growing.