Local trains in Malaga see record of number of users in first six months of the year

A record number of passengers are travelling on Malaga's Cercanías local trains along the Costa del Sol and to inland Álora, new figures show.

A total of 7,354,000 passengers were counted on C1 trains on the line from Malaga to Fuengirola and C2 trains between the city and the Guadalhorce valley between January and June this year, some 75% more than in the same period last year - that's 2,882,000 more users.

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The figure for the first half of 2023 also exceeds the number of passengers recorded in the same period in 2019, before the pandemic, by 29.8%, according to data provided by train operator Renfe.

The growth, of 1.7 million net users comes following Spain's Ministry of Transport's free pass initiative for frequent travellers on Cercanías and Media Distancia trains, as well as the 50% bonus on multi-journey tickets for Avant services, which started in September in 2022.

Malaga is currently the fourth largest commuter train hub in Spain in terms of passenger volume, behind only Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. This comes despite the city having fewer lines, and much less reach than the rest of the major metropolitan areas of the country. On a typical working day about 132 trains are in operation between Malaga city centre, Fuengirola (C1) and Álora (C2).

With these numbers, it is expected that 2023 will break records for the amount of rail passengers in a full year. The current record is in 2019, with 11,848,000 travellers registered. In 2022 it came close, with 11,267,000 recorded.

Free passes

More than 78,000 people in the Malaga province are subscribed to the Spain's free travel pass system, of which almost 74,000 are Cercanías and 4,000 Media Distancia. During the first two months of validity in 2023, Renfe issued more than 255,000 free passes in Andalucía, of which one third correspond to Malaga.

Malaga's local trains are the most profitable in Spain, the data also showed. About 75% of the costs are covered by passengers, well above Madrid (69%) and Barcelona (49%), and light years away from other major centers, such as Valencia (30%) and Seville (22%).