Renfe and Adif, from generation to generation
Ten months ago, on March 9th of last year, after yet another week of rail chaos, Councilor Paneque summoned two secretaries of state and the presidents of Renfe and Adif to Barcelona. They agreed to intensify "Adif's inspection work in Catalonia to guarantee the provision of commuter rail service" and to reinforce "Renfe's information and management centers, as well as the staff assigned to provide immediate assistance to users in case of incidents and to inform the public."
Ten months later, a fatal accident in Gelida has left the entire region without commuter rail service for who knows if a couple of days. Can anyone tell us what they check every night that they have to come back now? Can anyone tell us where the improvement in the information chain is, if yesterday people knew nothing? And where is the alternative transport? If they have to cut the entire service every time it rains heavily, they might as well shut it down, because storms are coming.in crescendo.
On,due to the risk of highway collapseDue to the landslide that struck the train, one lane of the AP-7 highway, a daily scene of traffic gridlock, has had to be closed. Following the fatal accidents in Adamuz and Gelida, train drivers are calling a sector-wide strike. These are the same drivers who are maneuvering against transferring the service to the Generalitat (Catalan government), which is the only way to improve the service.
The deception, the loss of hours of life, work, and studies, is colossal. Governments that want to "break up Spain" and those that want "reunion with Spain" have tried it, but neither succeeds. Why is that? To paraphrase the philosopher, Catalans only do things when Renfe (the Spanish national railway company), Adif (the Spanish railway infrastructure manager), and the state highway network allow them to.
Eighteen years ago, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in the streets to protest the same thing that is happening now. There are burdens that are passed down from generation to generation.