The Rubí tunnel will reopen next week for freight trains

BarcelonaAdif plans to restore freight train traffic through the Rubí tunnel next week. According to the manager of railway infrastructure, from the night of April 28, trains will once again run through this strategic point for the transport of goods by rail to France. This marks the completion of the first phase of the reinforcement, stabilization, and improvement work on the tunnel's infrastructure, which has lasted seven weeks.

The resumption will be partial: it will be carried out on a single track between Castellbisbal and Rubí-Can Vallhonrat for 12 hours a day, from Wednesday to Sunday, and for 21 hours on Mondays and Tuesdays. This schedule will last at least one month, until the works are completed and double-track circulation can be restored. The decision has already been communicated to the Generalitat (the administration responsible for the Rodalies commuter rail service), freight operators, and other institutions.

The Rubí tunnel was closed for almost two weeks between the end of January and the beginning of February, when emergency work began on the most critical points of this infrastructure of more than 900 meters, inaugurated in the 80s to divert freight transport outside of Barcelona. After a first reopening, however, in mid-March, movements were detected in the structure that forced it to be closed again.

After the last closure, the alternatives proposed by Adif, in coordination with the Government, were for goods to enter the port of Barcelona from the south via Lleida —a route that involved a 7-hour journey— or to reach the La Llagosta terminal and complete the journey by truck. During the last few weeks, the most affected freight trains have been those coming from the north, from Portbou, of both Iberian gauge and international gauge.

And passenger traffic?

After the passage of storm Harry at the end of January, operations began to reinforce the structure of the Rubí tunnel, consisting of the implementation of trusses. The actions have focused on 123 meters out of the 900 meters of the infrastructure. Initially, the works were compatible with the circulation of freight trains and services on line R8, but this implied "work yields lower than desirable and an extension of the execution deadlines".

The remaining stabilization works —up to 123 meters included in the emergency works— can be made compatible with the circulation of freight trains in different windows. As communicated by the company, Adif maintains permanent monitoring in the tunnel with the deployment of more than 30 sensors. Once these works are completed, the reinforcement of the entire 900 meters will continue, through ordinary works that are now in the awarding phase. The public company responsible for track maintenance continues to work “with the aim of making the infrastructure available to the service holder for passenger transit in the coming weeks”.