How we almost went to Córdoba

My wife, Barbara, and I, invited to the University of Seville for ten days, were going to visit a colleague in Cádiz.

Arriving at the Santa Justa station an hour early, we had a long time to be terrified by "El Zambonista de Santa Justa," the man who drove the cleaning machine that cleaned the floor of the station, and looked like a Zamboni ice maker at a hockey rink.   Not even the people sitting in the clustered waiting room chairs were safe from the threatening machine! But eventually The Zambonista kept busy in far-flung corners of the station. 

The train to Cádiz, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. It showed on the Departures screen scheduled to leave at 8:32, but had no assigned track! Since it was already eight o'clock, and most of the other trains had a track assigned, Barbara  was a little worried; me, not so much. But she asked an employee what to think. He explained that the train going to Cádiz was the one that was coming from Córdoba, but that the “medium-distance” (“regional”) trains were often late, so he tried to calm us down, using the regional 2nd person plural familiar “vosotros” form, “No os preocupéis.” “Don't worry.”

Confirming his theory, the Córdoba train scheduled to arrive at 8:15 did not show a track, either.  Time passed… 8:15... 8:30... and no sign of the train... aside from the crowd of passengers staring at the Departures screen, anxiously awaiting the track number for the train to Cádiz to appear. The screen did offer the curious detail that the train to Cádiz will be found "at the beginning of the platform (Lado Cádiz) (Cádiz side);" from our point of view in the waiting room, we thought that the trains entered the Santa Justa station, stopped, reversed direction and left the way they came, to head in the right direction outside the city. So I decided that "At the beginning of the platform" referred to end farthest from where we went down the ramp. The idea of "Lado Cádiz" didn't mean anything to us.

While we were waiting, I glanced around the interior of the terminal. I found it ironic that Renfe's advertising proclaimed “el mejor compromiso de puntualidad.” "The best commitment to punctuality.” Really? More like “The best COMPROMISE of punctuality.” 

Finally, at 8:35, "Vía 7" (“Track7”) appeared on the screen, and the crowd flowed out the door towards the indicated ramp. Going down the ramp, we noticed that in reality, the tracks continued under the station to go out to the other side, but at the time, it didn't seem important to us. What WAS important was that the (very long) train was arriving, with many people now getting off the train, and the waiting crowd agitating to get on.

Focused on reaching the beginning (end) of the platform, we forged ahead, finally reaching our Car Number 2, identified by the digital sign by the car door.  We hurried on board, and looked for our assigned seats. "Good! Here they are!" But there was already a woman sitting in mine. Checking the e-tickets on my cell phone, I read aloud, "Car 2, Chair 116, towards Cádiz." Suddenly the lady said, "CÁDIZ? THIS train is going to CÓRDOBA!" At that instant, we realized the error... The train to Cádiz was at the OTHER "BEGINNING" of the platform. The long train arriving from Córdoba had two parts: the part to the SOUTH, which would continue to Cádiz, and the part to the NORTH, which was going to return to Córdoba with new passengers from Seville.

Swimming upstream to get OFF the train others were boarding, we abandoned Car No. 2 heading for Córdoba, and ran back along to platform to reach the southern part of the train. Already fifteen minutes late, we thought the doors could close at any time. In the end, we sank into our own seats in Car No. 2, heading for Cádiz, and everything else went well.

Lesson learned, in the future, we will figure out the details of the train, AND the platform, before hoping the next train! We suggest you do the same, to enjoy your trip!

All aboard!

Peter Lafford

Seville, Spain

March 11, 2024