The Government demands that the State foot the bill for the railway chaos.

Barcelona / TarragonaThe rail chaos in Catalonia, affecting both commuter and freight services, coupled with the closure of the AP-7 highway, has a cost, currently incalculable, for the Catalan economy. The full impact will likely become clear when the first-quarter GDP figures are calculated, but for now, the consequences are lost work hours, goods not arriving and even industries being paralyzed, and public funds being used to pay for the removal of tolls on the C-32 highway—already around 9 million euros for the lower section alone—or for the rent. On Tuesday, the government approved an allocation of over 4 million euros. The true cost, however, is difficult to calculate when the logistics sector is forced to seek alternatives to rail transport, whose costs skyrocket, or when some companies, like Inovyn in Martorell, which has halted production, are not receiving the raw materials they need to manufacture their products. In fact, the chemical sector is one of the most affected, especially in the province of Barcelona, ​​and not so much in Tarragona, where many of the goods are moved through the pipeline transfer network (rack

For now, the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, has already announced that she will demand reimbursement from the central government for the costs the Generalitat (Catalan government) is incurring due to the poor performance of the trains and the AP-7 highway, which are state-owned. The Minister of Business, Miquel Sàmper, will demand compensation from the Ministry of Industry for the affected companies. "We are negotiating this with the Spanish government. They will have to finance it, they will have to pay us, because it is the fault of the poor management of this crisis, this situation, in recent days. We will demand that these resources be returned," said Minister Romero on TV3. Among the resources invested, Romero cited as examples the increased bus service, the number of information officers at Renfe stations, and the losses – €600,000 per day – due to the elimination of tolls on the C-32 highway, among others.

For his part, Minister Miquel Sàmper assured this Wednesday that the Catalan Government is studying how the rail traffic stoppage has affected companies that were due to receive or export goods, and will consider the possibility of compensating them. The aid could be channeled through the Ministry of Industry, with which Sàmper has already been in contact. The Minister of Business and Labor indicated that industry "is suffering" and explained that to "calibrate the real impact" of the goods blockade, he will meet in the coming hours with the ports of Barcelona and Tarragona, as well as with companies like Seat and Celsa and other sector entities, such as Fedequim and AEQT.

For his part, the president of Pimec Industria, Josep Soto, pointed out this Wednesday morning that this situation "is very negative in terms of the country's image" and recalled a Pimec study, which estimates the opportunity cost of 9 million euros per day on GDP Catalan GDP (the gross domestic product, the indicator that measures the economic activity of a territory) is being lost due to delays and the inability of workers to reach their jobs. This is in addition to "the issue of goods, which fortunately is not currently causing chaos due to seasonality," since these months are not the peak season in terms of goods, "but every day that passes is a risk that could end up affecting companies due to supply shortages," Soto pointed out. However, he warned that "if this goes on much longer, it could end up being a bigger problem than the impact on people," although he clarified that "it is still too early to give a specific figure." Other economic institutions are not yet willing to make any predictions about the economic impact of the rail chaos and the closure of the AP-7 highway. The College of Economists of Catalonia has not yet prepared any report, nor has the research department of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, two leading institutions in the study of the Catalan economy. In both cases, sources from both organizations indicate that the number of variables to consider in order to arrive at a concrete figure for how GDP will be affected is very high and requires a very thorough study. Furthermore, the bulk of the indicator data—such as GDP growth itself, but also activity in the ports of Barcelona and Tarragona, traffic on the AP-7 motorway, work absences, and delays caused by disruptions to commuter and high-speed trains, among others—may still take weeks. To this must be added the ongoing rail grid collapse, so the impact continues to grow day by day. Chaos also reigns on the roads.

José Enrique Vázquez, president of EnerGroc and president of Pimec's energy commission, warned: "All this chaos is having a significant impact; we're delaying many meetings and agreements because we can't travel to Madrid, or even just to Lleida or Girona, by high-speed train or, obviously, commuter train." He emphasized that this is a very important factor, because moving people or goods by train is not the same as doing it by road. "All of this results in costs that are unaffordable for industry," the businessman asserted. "We need a complete change of model, to build new railway infrastructure, not just patch it up; a national agreement is necessary, which requires a large investment, perhaps 30 or 40 billion euros." "The goal is to get trucks off the road," he stated.

Carles Folchi, general secretary of the General Association of Self-Employed and SME Transporters of Catalonia (AGTC) and president of Fenadismer, a transport organization, warns of the effects of the delays caused by the rail chaos and the closure of the AP-7 motorway. He points out that most of these companies have a maximum of five vehicles and that each hour of delay beyond the delivery time stipulated in the contract represents a cost of 100 euros. "It's a major impact on the self-employed and SMEs, not so much on large transport companies," he maintains.

According to the employers' association Transcalit, the journey on the AP-7 now takes between one and one and a half hours longer, as drivers have to find alternative routes such as the A-2 or the C-32, which are now experiencing much heavier traffic than usual. This leads to more traffic jams and wasted time, further complicating the work because drivers must adhere to schedules and, If they could make a trip under normal circumstances, now they might not even be able to complete one, explain industry sources.

10% of trucks at the port of Barcelona

Another effect is that the demand for road transport from the port of Barcelona has skyrocketed, with 10% more daily truck arrivals to transport goods that cannot be transported by train, which also complicates traffic, a difficulty also because more individuals are using their own vehicles due to the paralysis or irregularities of the commuter rail service.

Before the Gelida accident, in which a train driver died, a typical day saw 22 freight trains running south from the port, representing its largest volume of rail traffic and accounting for almost 80% of the total. Zaragoza was the main destination, with five trains departing daily. International trains accounted for three daily runs.

Trains heading south and carrying goods to the rest of Spain are expected to resume service on the line through Gelida – the R4 line – starting next Monday. After three days of no service, this traffic was rerouted via the Vilanova line – the R2 line – with limited nighttime service, operating at around 25% of its pre-accident capacity. The Rubí tunnel, whose structure had shown cracks for some time, is also expected to resume train traffic starting today, although passage will only be restricted. Trains connecting to Europe will have to coexist with the emergency works being carried out by Adif to address the structural deficiencies that had been detected and for which improvement works had already been put out to tender and which have had to be expedited. The disruption that the port of Barcelona has been experiencing for weeks has been easing at the port of Tarragona. As it does not handle many trains to France, the Tarragona infrastructure has been recovering from the impact it suffered from the Gelida accident. In its case, the disruption was caused by the suspensions of rail traffic that occurred after the derailment, given that freight trains share the same tracks as commuter trains. [Information prepared by: Jordi Mumbrú, Carlota Serra Llagostera, Cristina Martín Valbuena, Leandro Ibar Penaba, Agustí Sala, Albert Rigol Baulenas and Xavier Grau del Cerro]