Puente says that Ferrocarrils is a "toy" compared to Cercanías.

Madrid"There's no need to deceive ourselves. Cercanías is the largest and oldest rail network. Ferrocarrils is, along with Cercanías, a toy network, if you'll pardon the expression." With these words, he disparaged the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, of the Catalan Railways (FGC) during his appearance this Wednesday in Congress to discuss the incidents that affect some part of the country day after day. The latest, a technical failure at Adif last week that paralyzed the long-distance service between Madrid and Andalusia.

The pro-independence groups, which demand independent management of Cercanías, have cited the good functioning of FGC as an example, and Puente has asked not to compare these two infrastructures. "Ferrocarrils doesn't reach 10 percent of the extension of Cercanías. It's a network isolated from other means of transport. Cercanías combines long-distance, medium-distance, and freight services," he argued. And he continued: "FGC is practically a metro network. In this sense, I congratulate them because it is much better managed than the one in Madrid, but it is not comparable to Cercanías," he insisted. He also pointed out that Cercanías is the largest and oldest network in the country. In fact, last week he acknowledged that it had been the most historically mistreated.

Puente's words did not please Junts MP Isidre Gavín, who criticized the minister for "minimizing" and "downplaying" the FGC. "We do not accept it under any circumstances. It has been operating for many years: it moves 100 million people a year, with suburban, intercity, regional, and freight services. On several of its lines, freight and passenger services coexist," he contradicted Puente.

The abolition of the Barcelona-Madrid Avlo

What many Catalans have also noticed in recent days is the increase in long distance fares between Madrid and Barcelona, ​​​​as a result of the abolition of low-cost Avlo trains"We need trains. We've had to withdraw five. We're looking for an emergency solution to try to recover this service," Puente promised.

Purchasing trains is also the solution he has offered to increase the service between Lleida and Barcelona with Avant, in response to criticism from ERC MP Inés Granollers. "It cost 37 euros and now it's 61 [Madrid-Barcelona Avlo]. And the Lleida-Barcelona train cost 19 euros and now it's 44 euros. And the capacity drops from 581 to 404. In other words, fewer trains, more expensive and for fewer people. This is not an improvement, and people see it as a joke," Granollers denounced.

The minister replied that "more rolling stock" is needed and that for now there is no more material to expand the Avant train service. "Hence the urgency of purchasing trains, which is absolutely unavoidable," he explained.