Spain train strikes hit 17, 19 and 23 November: what to know

Rail travellers in Spain face three strike days this month. Drivers' union Semaf has called a sector-wide strike on Tuesday 17 November and another on Monday 23 November, while traffic control staff at infrastructure manager Adif will walk out for 24 hours on 17 and 19 November.

Thursday 12 November is no longer a strike day. In a statement on 10 November, Semaf said it was replacing that date with a new strike on the 23rd to give talks a week, while keeping the 17 November action "across the whole sector".

The move followed a government decision the same day. Spain's Council of Ministers approved an emergency decree on rail safety, the Ministry of Transport said. It defines what counts as drivers' driving time, gives the State Railway Safety Agency (AESF) stronger inspection powers and extends early-retirement coefficients to more grades of rail staff.

For the union, that is only a first step. Semaf says it will keep both dates until the remaining safety commitments are adopted in law, having already struck on 29 October and 10 November.

The Adif dispute is separate. The Sindicato de Circulación Ferroviario (SCF), which represents signalling and traffic control staff, wants more people in Adif's traffic control centres and a review of several technical instructions on working time and safety, according to its statement of 6 November.

That makes 17 November the day to watch. Driver walkouts hit train operators directly, but traffic controllers set the routes for every train on Adif's network, whichever company runs it.

As of 11 November, the Ministry of Transport had not published minimum service levels for any of the three days. These are usually set a few days beforehand, after which each operator lists the trains it will run. Anyone travelling on 17, 19 or 23 November should check their booking with the operator the day before departure.

Strikes in other countries are listed in our European train strike calendar. Semaf's previous walkout, and the minimum services set for it, are covered in our report on the 29 October strike.

Sources: Semaf, statement no. 2026-1, 10 November 2026; Spanish Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, press release, 10 November 2026; SCF, statement SCFCOM 33, 6 November 2026.

Photo: the tropical garden inside Madrid Atocha station, 7 November 2007 — Ces-VLC, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Article written with the help of artificial intelligence from the sources cited, reviewed by the TrainsNews editorial team before publication.