Spain suffered a massive blackout on Monday, leaving millions without electricity across much of its continental territory, with impacts also reported in Portugal and parts of France, according to the operator Red Eléctrica. Although service has started to be restored in some areas, the effects were immediate: halted trains, disabled traffic lights, closed businesses, and major issues with mobile communications.
The Administrator of Railway Infrastructures (ADIF) confirmed that train services were suspended, with many passengers trapped inside trains awaiting the restoration of service. The situation was particularly critical in Barcelona, where the metro and all railway lines went out of service, leaving thousands of commuters stranded — some inside tunnels — and requiring evacuation operations.
The railway network operated by the Generalitat was also affected, with service disruptions on lines connecting Barcelona to Vallès, Llobregat to Anoia, and Lleida to Pobla de Segur. Urban trains are being progressively evacuated.
The Spanish government activated a crisis committee at La Moncloa to respond to the emergency. Third Vice President and Minister for Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, traveled to the Red Eléctrica control center to monitor the situation firsthand. “All necessary means will be deployed to restore normality as soon as possible,” ministry sources said.
As a preventive measure, the Zarzuela Palace deployed units of the Intervention Police, prepared to act in case of public order disturbances.
Red Eléctrica clarified that the incident only affected the peninsula, with no disruptions reported in the Canary or Balearic Islands. In a post on social network X (formerly Twitter), the operator stated it had activated service recovery protocols in coordination with other sector companies. They explained that a “zero” occurred in the peninsular electric system — a term commonly associated with widespread blackouts. Around 12:30 PM Madrid time, electricity consumption, which stood at approximately 25,184 megawatts (MW), suddenly plummeted to 12,425 MW, according to real-time data.
The European Union also expressed concern and stated it was in contact with Spanish authorities to understand the causes behind the massive outage. “The causes are being analyzed, and all available resources are being dedicated to solving the issue,” Red Eléctrica noted.
In Portugal, the EFE news agency reported that many citizens took to the streets in confusion after being left without communication. The Portuguese energy operator confirmed that the blackout affected the entire Iberian Peninsula and parts of France. Meanwhile, the French operator also reported a brief service interruption in its territory.
The event recalls a previous incident on April 23, when an electrical failure in the cooling system of the Ministry of Health’s Data Processing Center caused a temporary shutdown of several services hosted there.
