Renfe closes the train repair workshop at the great cross-border station of Catalonia

GironaPortbou has the last train station in Southern Catalonia before crossing the administrative border with France through the Belitres tunnel. The station and the entire complex of tracks occupy nearly a third of the surface area of this small municipality on the Costa Brava, linked since the 19th century to the country's railway history. Inside the Portbou facilities there is a workshop, the only one of Renfe in the Girona region, where maintenance and repair tasks for locomotives and freight trains are carried out. Over time, however, this base has been losing weight and personnel, until, finally, Renfe has decided to cease its activity.

The state company's decision has opened a conflict, as both the unions and the Catalan administrations oppose it: they argue that the maintenance base must be preserved and strengthened, as it provides jobs for qualified personnel and, if strengthened, they ensure it could contribute to improving the service for users.

It is true that in recent years the passage of freight trains through Portbou has been on the decline. The high-speed tunnel of El Pertús has diverted part of the rail freight traffic, while road transport has gained weight. Consequently, after some retirements that the company has not replaced, only four workers remained at the base. With the closure, Renfe will relocate them to other destinations in the State with their consent.

However, for the unions, the decrease in freight activity is not a sufficient reason to close the base, as they argue that the functions could be reoriented and the facilities could be used for the maintenance of passenger trains, which accumulate repeated incidents. "On the R11 medium-distance and regional line, we only have two vehicles to provide service. If a train fails near Portbou, we have a problem because they have to take it to Barcelona to fix it and it can no longer be used. Instead, from Portbou, we could offer technical assistance in case of a breakdown. This would allow decongesting the capital's facilities and reducing the impact on passengers," argues Jordi Muñoz, UGT union delegate at Renfe in the province of Girona, train driver and former worker at the Portbou base.

A change in the management model for train maintenance

Beyond the evident decrease in freight traffic, Renfe's decision to cease activity in Portbou also responds to a "change in the management model" of train maintenance. The workers denounce that this change involves replacing their own personnel and technical services with a private service that centralizes work in workshops in the metropolitan area. "Renfe is breaching the agreement to call off the strike of February 9, the one for the accidents in Adamuz and Gelida, which included the commitment to reverse subcontracting to external companies," states Muñoz.

To demand that the activity be maintained, the union workers also highlight the strategic location of the base, right next to the border with Northern Catalonia, and argue that the Portbou infrastructure has more than enough space to assume the potential repairs of passenger trains: the trains spend the night in the yard and the tracks have the capacity to house 200 wagons.

The railway training cycle continues

The Portbou City Council, which wants to promote the town's station to turn it into a logistics terminal, supports the union demands and is trying to apply pressure to reverse the situation at the base: "One of the reasons for the Rodalies chaos is the poor state of the equipment. It is very absurd that billions of euros are announced to build workshops and, at the same time, others are closed instead of being promoted," states the very young mayor Gael Rodríguez, from the PSC.

The closure of the base has also raised alarms because, in July, the City Council agreed with the Department of Education on the implementation of a vocational training cycle in the municipality starting from the 2026-27 academic year to train railway personnel and strengthen the sector in the municipality. Renfe's decision to abandon maintenance activity in Portbou could discourage potential students, but the council assures that the training project is moving forward: "If Renfe pushes a policy of closing its facilities and outsourcing services, we will seek private investment. Whatever happens, we will have staff and we will be able to carry out the training," confirms Rodríguez. For now, the council is studying whether the course will be able to use the closed Renfe facilities or if other spaces will be sought.

For its part, the Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition, led by the Girona councilor Sílvia Paneque, has conveyed to the Ministry of Transport its commitment to the continuity and promotion of activity at the base, "given its historical, economic and railway value" for the municipality and the region. Likewise, the Girona Provincial Council, led by its president Miquel Noguer, has sent a letter to Renfe in which it reaffirms that the closure of the base would mean the loss of "stable railway activity and quality employment in a strategic enclave".