It is not every day that an entire country is left without power for almost 24 hours. Yet, on 28 April 2025, the Iberian Peninsula experienced a large-scale power outage, presenting an unprecedented challenge to citizens’ mobility and railway operations.
To integrate the lessons learned from this extraordinary event, on 25 September 2025, the International Union of Railways (UIC) hosted a webinar titled “Sharing Railway Response to the Iberian Power Outage – Impact on Rail Operations”. The event brought together over 90 participants from around the world, underlining the international railway community’s interest in understanding and sharing resilience practices and crisis management experiences.
The programme featured presentations from representatives from the Spanish Railway Infrastructure Manager (ADIF), Spanish National Railway Network (RENFE), Infraestruturas de Portugal, Trains of Portugal (CP), Euskotren, and Catalan Government Railways (FGC). They shared how they managed the crisis, mitigated its impact on passengers, and ensured the continuity of railway operations. Additionally, Laura Petersen (UIC Security Department) shared how the UIC Security Platform Crisis Management Working Group is addressing business continuity, and presented relevant resources, such as the UIC Crisis Management Guidelines, available for free on the UIC shop .
The session was organised and moderated by Paco Cabrera (UIC Operations and Safety Department) and Vanessa Pérez (UIC Passenger Department). Alberto García, an internationally renowned railway expert, acted as master of ceremonies, facilitating smooth conversations and interaction among the speakers, who were Rui Silva and Miguel Cruz (IP); Artur Cerejo and Rafael Mendes (CP); Hernán Jiménez (Euskotren); Gregorio Gámez Bartolomé (FGC); Angel García de la Bandera, Carlos Freire Coloma, and Sergio Lozano Mirand (ADIF); Miguel Ángel García Piñero, Luz Belén Castaño Padilla, and Fernando Díez Rodríguez (RENFE).
To make the content accessible to a wider audience, the webinar was offered with simultaneous interpretation in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
The discussions highlighted the railway system’s resilience, built on a solid foundation of existing technical preparedness, while also underscoring the importance of human factors and the commendable performance of staff in the face of such an exceptional and extreme event. At the same time, the value of the lessons learned was emphasised, along with the need to reinforce certain protocols and actions to further strengthen the capacity to respond to large-scale disruptions, such as:
- Communications: Ensuring robust, redundant, and reliable channels to maintain coordination during crises and prioritising essential functions that must be safeguarded under all circumstances.
- Redundancy of data centres: Having backup systems in place to secure operations .
- Established protocols with civil protection and other stakeholders: Predefined coordination mechanisms proved essential for efficient crisis response.
- Contingency planning and drills: Conducting regular exercises and simulations to prove response capacity.
- Maintaining essential services: Keeping core railway services operational to support citizens’ mobility even under adverse conditions.
- Human factors: Beyond technical readiness, the dedication and commitment of railway staff played a decisive role in managing the crisis.
This webinar represented a remarkable act of solidarity and cooperation: by sharing experiences and lessons learned, the railway sector has strengthened its resilience, preparedness, and capacity to respond to major disruptions.
The presentations are available on the UIC website: UIC Webinar – Sharing Railway Response to the Iberian Power Outage.
Listen to the webinar here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUdND40cgRlfNZdSzjMHPvY2TuurVVpbk
For further information, please contact us here: https://uic.org/about/contact