In the event of an incident affecting passengers' rights, a complaint may be submitted to the railway company or to the Railway Infrastructure Manager.
Out-of-court
Complaints to the railway company
Time limit for making a complaint: 3 months from the incident.
Time limit for the company to reply to the complaint: 1 month from its reception.
Complaints to the Dirección General de Transporte Terrestre (DGTT)
Passengers must have previously submitted a complaint to the railway company or the Infrastructure Manager. They may contact the DGTT when one month has passed since the complaint was submitted to the company or the Administrator (either if, after this period, no response has been received or if they do not agree with the response).
European Consumer Centre in Spain
ECC-Spain handles cross-border consumer complaints from consumers residing in Spain who wish to complain against a company based in another EU Member State, Iceland, Norway or the United Kingdom. Passengers must have previously complained to the company.
Complaints to the Juntas Arbitrales de Transporte
Users may also submit their complaints to the Juntas Arbitrales del Transporte of the Autonomous Communities and in the cities of Ceuta and Melilla. This Juntas will be the one located in the Community of origin or destination of the transport, the one located in the address of the company providing the service, or the one located in the community where the passenger resides, provided that, in the latter two cases, the passenger is in Spanish territory.
Complaints to the Juntas Arbitrales de Consumo
The Juntas Arbitrales de Consumo are an extrajudicial instrument that the Public Administrations make available to citizens to efficiently resolve conflicts and claims that arise in consumer relations.
Court procedure
Rail passengers will be able to go to court to bring a claim against the company to enforce their rights, as well as when damages have to be claimed. In order to ensure access to justice and create an area of freedom, security and justice in the EU, consumers have access to the European Small Claims Procedure, a judicial alternative to simplify, speed up and reduce legal costs for cross-border claims within the EU (except Denmark), for amounts up to 5,000 euros.