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Just a couple of days after Spain's rail operators rolled out their massive January sales, Ouigo has dropped a bombshell on thousands of travellers. The budget rail company is slashing services on its southern routes, leaving 15,000 passengers in the lurch over a two-week period.

 

The cuts, which Ouigo is putting down to "operational reasons," will see services reduced between January 9 and 22 on the busy Madrid-Sevilla and Madrid-Malaga corridors. From Friday to Monday, eight daily services will be axed, with another six daily services getting the chop from Tuesday to Thursday on the same routes.

 

"At Ouigo, we are firmly committed to service quality and deeply regret any inconvenience this situation may have caused our passengers," company sources stated.

 

They've stressed that affected travellers were told in advance and insist the move is all about guaranteeing quality of service.

 

So what can passengers do if their journey's been axed? Travellers can switch their ticket to another service completely free of charge or cancel altogether and get their money back. However, the compensation on offer varies wildly depending on how much notice you've been given. You could pocket anywhere from 50% to 200% of your ticket price on top of the refund, according to the company.

 

Ouigo says it's ready and waiting to help anyone with questions about the changes through its usual customer service channels. Whether that's enough to smooth things over with the 15,000 affected passengers remains to be seen.

 

Image: Ouigo