Train passengers are forced to sit in the dark without ventilation

PASSENGERS travelling from the underground station in Calle Jacint Verdaguer (behind Plaza España) are having to wait in their train for it to leave the station sitting in the dark and with no ventilation. After the serious problems caused in the station by the accumulation of smoke since it was opened just over a month ago, the train drivers will now have to shut their engines off as they enter the station and keep them off until they leave the station. This situation has caused complaints from the users of the station, who suffer the indignity of having to sit in the dark without any ventilation during their wait for the train to leave (sometimes more than 15 minutes). Although the Balearic Ministry for Public Works, Transport and Housing explained, from the first day, that the accumulation of smoke, smells, heat and noise did not originate from the diesel engined trains inside the underground station but from the underground works near the station which are still in progress, the situation, which has been going on for 35 days now, has forced them to adopt measures such as making the drivers switch off their engines while they are in the station. The socialist spokesman Antoni Dieguez has severely criticised the Ministry in the Balearic Parliament over the “lack of security” and “bad smells and toxic smoke” which the “unfinished” Jacint Verdaguer station is suffering. But Minister Mabel Cabrer defended the station and claimed that during the station's 35 days in operation, more than 270'000 passengers have passed through the station “and we have only received eight complaints”.