Repeated breakdowns raise questions over investment (or a lack of), reliability and whether a change of government could make a difference. Costa del Sol citizens are at the end of their tether.

Passengers travelling between Malaga and Fuengirola faced another day of disruption and waiting on Thursday, November 5, after a technical fault on a Cercanías (commuter) train caused widespread delays, cancellations and overcrowding.

The latest problems affected the C1 line, with passengers reporting waits of up to an hour at Plaza Mayor. Some trains were running late, while passengers reported smoke and an unusual smell around the wheels of a train at La Colina in Torremolinos. Some services were cancelled and others required passengers to change trains.

According to Málaga Hoy’s report on the latest Cercanías disruption, the problems also affected the C2 service between Malaga and Alora.

A difficult week for Malaga commuters

Thursday’s disruption followed three consecutive days of problems reported across the network, with delays, cancelled services and compulsory changes of train.

On Sunday, November 1, around 20 passengers were left stranded after a technical failure stopped the last train travelling towards Fuengirola. Renfe eventually arranged taxis to take them home. EWN previously reported the late-night breakdown which left Malaga passengers stranded.

The following night, a man died after being struck by a train near Torreblanca, forcing the suspension of services between Benalmadena and Fuengirola. This was a separate and tragic incident, rather than a mechanical failure. Even more operational problems followed on Tuesday and Wednesday, before Thursday’s technical fault brought another round of passenger complaints.

Spanish newspaper El Español counted 37 service disruption notices on Thursday alone, covering delays, cancellations, partial interruptions and a compulsory passenger transfer. Renfe attributed the latest C1 problems to a technical fault affecting one train, while the C2 experienced separate difficulties.

Why the Fuengirola railway is significant

The 32-kilometre C1 connects Malaga city with the airport, Torremolinos, Benalmadena and Fuengirola. It is an essential transport link for residents commuting to work, tourists travelling between resorts and airport passengers avoiding increasingly congested roads.

Renfe’s 2025 passenger figures show that Malaga’s two Cercanías lines carried 15.54 million passengers last year, with the bulk of demand concentrated on the C1. At some points, passenger numbers reach 150 per cent of available seating capacity.

Renfe plans to invest €66.7 million in seven new high-capacity trains for the Fuengirola route, expected to enter service from 2028. A further €40 million is earmarked for a new maintenance workshop.

Meanwhile, Adif has been working on a project to add 2.8 kilometres of double track between Malaga Airport and Campamento Benitez, helping to address infrastructure limitations that restrict how frequently trains can run.

Could we do with a change?

Responsibility for Spain’s state railway network ultimately falls on the national government through the Transport Ministry, Adif and Renfe. A change of administration in Madrid could therefore bring different investment priorities, management decisions and expectations for service improvements.

However, replacing the government would not automatically solve the railway’s problems. The infrastructure limitations, maintenance requirements and growing passenger numbers would still need to be addressed. For thousands of people who depend on the C1 every day, the promised new trains and infrastructure improvements offer some hope, but they will not arrive overnight.

Whether under the present administration or a future government, the question remains the same: how can a railway serving one of Spain’s busiest coastal areas provide a service passengers can actually rely on?

There are some things Italians take very seriously: their coffee, their pasta, their nonna, their olive oil and, apparently, the right of a pizza to remain pineapple-free. One Italian chef was so opposed to the tropical topping that he refused to make it for customers, even after his boss asked him repeatedly.

Davide Tamburella, who worked at La Costa Restaurant and Bar in Brisbane, Australia, considered putting pineapple on pizza an insult to his Italian culture. His refusal to prepare ham and pineapple pizzas for a private function became one of several issues raised by management before he was dismissed in May. The dispute has since reached Australia’s Fair Work Commission, turning one of the world’s most divisive pizza toppings into an employment case. 

A pizza topping that crossed a line

This was not Tamburella’s first disagreement with his employer over pineapple. According to the commission’s findings, it was the third time in four years that he had refused to put the fruit on pizzas. On an earlier occasion, he had reportedly asked his boss to look into how important it was to Italians not to put pineapple on pizza. When the request came up again, he maintained that instructions from management did not have to be followed if they offended his culture.

His employer, Elliot Ingram, had a rather different concern: customers had ordered the pizzas, and the restaurant was expected to serve them. The function was reportedly worth more than AU$15,000, making the disagreement considerably more expensive than a heated debate over dinner. La Costa was in Queensland, Australia’s pineapple-growing heartland, where the fruit is big business. The state produces Australia’s commercially grown pineapples, so the chef had found himself defending Italian culinary tradition in the middle of pineapple country. 

The dispute was about more than pizza

Management said the topping was not the only problem. The complaints raised before Tamburella’s dismissal also included his use of inappropriate language, his communication style and what was described as growing frustration in the workplace. He had also injured his right hand after striking a metal handrail at work in April, fracturing bones in two places. Tamburella argued that the injury had played a part in his dismissal, alongside the dispute over the pizzas.

He was dismissed on May 20, around a fortnight after a meeting with management. The restaurant’s managing director later said there was more to the dispute than pineapple on pizza. That is worth remembering before imagining an entire restaurant throwing its hands up because one chef refused to reach for a tin of pineapple. 

Chef loses challenge over dismissal

Tamburella took his case to Australia’s Fair Work Commission, arguing that his dismissal was unfair. The commission rejected his application in a decision released on November 3. However, it did not rule that the restaurant was right to dismiss him over the pineapple dispute. His application had been lodged outside the legal time limit, and Commissioner Jennifer Hunt found there were no exceptional circumstances to justify accepting it late. The commission therefore did not determine the substantive fairness of the dismissal. 

The consequences extended beyond the kitchen. Tamburella had been pursuing an employer-sponsored permanent residency visa, a process he had reportedly spent more than three years working towards. After his dismissal, the restaurant ended its sponsorship, leaving him needing to find another employer if he wanted to pursue that route.

La Costa itself closed in July after its lease expired, with the owner citing high operating costs. Tamburella has since found work as head chef at another Brisbane Italian restaurant. In a final twist, pineapple is not on that restaurant’s menu. The chef may have lost his job and his first legal challenge, but at least his new kitchen appears to share his position on the great pineapple debate. Whether that is culinary principle or simply a very specific recruitment requirement is another question

If you left a workplace pension behind in England and now live in Spain, you could one day be offered a ‘pension for life’ on it. The catch is that the plans don’t mention savers living abroad, and Spain taxes the money in its own way.

Old pots are covered, not just new ones

Brits who left a workplace pension behind in England are included in the plans Pensions Minister Torsten Bell announced on Tuesday November 3, and not just people who are still paying in. Under the Guided Retirement proposals, workplace pension providers would have to offer a default pension, which is a ready-made income that carries on for life, whenever a saver asks to start taking their money.

The consultation says that includes deferred pots (old pensions left behind after changing jobs) and people already in drawdown (taking money out of the pot bit by bit), as long as they aren’t in a default pension already. Final-salary schemes are left out, and so are tiny deferred pots of £1,000 or less.

Savers could still say no

Savers could turn the default down and choose something else, and nothing would be paid out until they ask for it and confirm their bank details. If they never get in touch, the money would simply stay invested. 

For pots above £10,000, the default would have to keep paying for life, so taking the money out bit by bit would be unlikely to count on its own. Some defaults could come from new collective schemes, which pool savers’ money so nobody carries the risk of outliving their pot alone. However, the government’s response says the pension increases wouldn’t be guaranteed and benefits may fluctuate.

The reason for all of this is that around 46 per cent of first-time pension withdrawals in 2025/26 emptied the whole pot, the government says.

Nothing in the paperwork mentions savers abroad

The obvious question for anyone living in Spain is ‘does this apply to me?’, and so far the paperwork doesn’t answer it. Neither the consultation nor the government’s separate response on collective schemes mentions savers who live overseas.

It’s early days, though. The consultation is open until Tuesday December 22, with the collective schemes rules open until Tuesday December 15, and the indicative timetable has providers complying from summer 2029. Those dates could still change. 

Spain will tax the money in its own way

Unfortunately for brits in Spain, Britain’s plan can’t change Spanish tax rules. Under the UK-Spain tax treaty, most UK pension income, including lump sums, received by someone living in Spain is taxed here, and the UK’s 25 per cent tax-free lump sum has no Spanish equivalent once you’re a tax resident. 

So emptying a whole pot, as so many UK savers do, could mean paying Spanish tax on all of it as ordinary income, without the quarter that’s tax-free in Britain. Spain already treats the UK State Pension as income for residents too, as EWN has previously reported.

Until the rules are final, anyone in Spain with an old UK workplace pot should speak to their provider and a cross-border tax adviser before taking money out, because the Spanish tax bill depends on Spain’s rules, whatever Britain decides.