Antequerra Santa Ana

Just a heads up for anyone having to change trains here. There's no cafe just a drinks machine, and during the hour I was here the toilets were closed for 40 minutes. Also once through the (manual) ticket check you are not allowed back on the platform until your train is called, so no good for deck chairing........unless you stay on the platform. Plenty to see if you go into the car park however, including passing trains, freight and local passenger workings. Also they get a bit narked if you leave the station then go back in as there's a security checkpoint just inside the main doors......but if you hold a valid ticket there's not a lot they can do.....PS it's in the middle of nowhere so no bar/cafe/restaurant walkable from the station.

A worth successor to Bobadilla junction which pre-AV was a standing joke in spain (though there are cafes there as it's a village).

With an hour at Antequera if it's not too hot you could walk down to the main road, turn right then marvel at the unbelievable quantity of steel and concrete: 4 track LAV, 2 track broad gauge, junctions in all directions including a new one towards Sevilla, and how many non-LAV services per day?

At least Antequera town (AV) now has trains again. For years they passed through with a token couple of rail replacement buses in the morning with very limited ticketing.

Medina del Campo AV will be as bad, and it does offer the odd not-bad-by-spanish-standards connection between Galicia and Salamanca. Not with a through ticket of course.

A post COVID development - it had a cafe / bookstall in the main hall with tables and chairs where you could sit and admire the totally OTT station. I guess the footfall has declined with through high-speed trains to Granada and the opening of Antequera Ciudad station. One of the through Algerciras services has been restored too.

Bobadilla, the old junction just down the road, has had something of a mini-revival with most broad gauge services calling again. I remember being stuck here many years ago on a searingly hot day with lots of disgruntled travellers in the large refreshment room as then was. The bar just outside the station was doing a roaring trade too.

When I was at Antequerra Santa Ana this lunchtime there was about 70 people waiting for trains, and the service seemed quite busy within an hour destinations included Seville (both high speed and broad gauge routes), Granada, Malaga, Algeciras. A cafe would have done a roaring trade, especially as the quite busy Algeciras train takes 4 hours and has no buffet car!

Saturday 16/03/2024: I'm unexpectedly back again at Santa Ana due to my Media Distance train from Ronda being some 23 late and missing the +17 connection to Malaga from Bobadilla. We saw the Malaga train on its way as we awaited the platform at Bobadilla. Big shout out to the RENFE staff at Ronda who, seeing we'd miss our connection promptly refunded our fare and rebooked us to Malaga via Antequerra Santa Ana ! Clearly this sort of thing happens a lot. Currently deck-chairing having ensured we stayed on the platform! Noone has booted us off yet. Interesting dmu in siding at Bobadilla with signs of major front end collision and side all bashed in.