Three cows who wandered onto the line triggered a derailment of an overnight train heading from Lisbon to Madrid and caused major disruption for passengers, Portuguese rail operator Refer said today.

The train, which was carrying 45 people, partially came off the tracks at around 1:45am near Castelo de Vide, around 200 kilometres (125 miles) northeast of Lisbon and close to the border with Spain.

The incident, in which no one was injured, was caused by three cows which had wandered onto the line, a spokesman for Refer told Portugal's TSF radio station.

Passengers heading to Madrid were able to complete their journey by boarding a train coming in the opposite direction and which had to return to the Spanish capital. Passengers headed to Lisbon had to complete their journey by road.

According to the Refer spokesman, the line should be fully reopened by the end of the day after repair work by Spanish technicians.

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