Spanish rail authorities have temporarily reduced the speed limit on part of the high-speed line between Madrid and Barcelona after a fault was detected on the track.
Transport Minister Óscar Puente said a crack had been found on Sunday night in the line 110km (68 miles) west of Barcelona, between Alcover and l'Espluga de Francolí, in the Catalonia region.
It comes days after a high-speed collision killed 45 people in southern Spain and amid severe disruption to local rail services in the north-east of the country.
The transport ministry said the fault in the line did not pose a danger to trains travelling along it and that they would continue to move along it.
This is the latest and most drastic of several speed reductions on high-speed lines in recent days, following the accident in Adamuz, in Andalusia, earlier this month.
