The trip to Núria that the Government won't run with Cercanías (but does run with the rack railway)

QueralbsIt's 6:01 a.m. and a train on the R3 line pulls into Sants station. It's on time: the screens are already showing incidents on the R1 line, but not on the line connecting Barcelona with Tor de Querol, which, a week ago, was the subject of one of the most notorious incidents in recent weeks: A cable cut left the line without service for a few hours. Passengers who boarded the train in Barcelona today and got off before Planoles were lucky: "Today the train is going slowly, but it's going," emphasized Empar on the ARA. She takes Renfe every day to work in La Garriga and is used to breakdowns. "I don't usually have many problems," explained Carles, who is going to Puigcerdà for the weekend. Zoila, who was traveling to her late husband's house in Cerdanya, also shared the same opinion. Unfortunately, their luck ran out in Ribes de Freser—where the entire government arrived this Friday to take the rack railway to Núria. The train stopped at the next stop, Planoles, and alternative transportation had to be activated for those who were scheduled to continue their journey. At the same time, traffic on the R3 was interrupted in the opposite direction between Franqueses and Centelles due to an infrastructure incident.

After nearly three hours of travel, the R3 train arrived in Ribes de Freser this Friday, fifteen minutes late. However, it was just in time for the ARA to reach the meeting point between the Government and journalists for the boarding to Vall de Núria: the rack railway station of the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat (Catalan Railways). The choice was no coincidence and reflects the Government's desire to promote this infrastructure during its second working day, from this Friday to Saturday. The first ones were in Poblet, in August.

The regional minister for Territory, Silvia Paneque, was the earliest: she arrived at the rack railway station before anyone else, wearing a FGG corporate jacket. She didn't arrive on the R3 like any of the other members of the executive council. Most of the councilors traveled there in a minibus that transported them all together to the station, just as they did when they went to Poblet. Salvador Illa joined the government at the Queralbs station, a Pujol-era territory par excellence. Some more urbane councilors suffered a bit more than expected when they stepped into the snowy Vall de Núria because they weren't wearing the appropriate footwear.

The meeting in Vall de Núria was supposed to serve as a timely opportunity to look back and conduct a more measured analysis of the first eight months of the legislature. However, Donald Trump's trade war has forced the government to change its plans and focus its working sessions. practically as a monograph on what the Generalitat can do to respond to the affected Catalan companiesThe President also presented the councillors with a text by Václav Havel, playwright and former President of the Czech Republic, Conditions for the awakening of human responsibility in the postmodern world, to invite them to reflect on the challenges of the international context. Isla also had to answer questions from journalists about the chaos with the commuter trains, which has already led to opposition calls for Councilor Paneque's resignation.

Once again, the Catalan president admitted that things are not going as they should or "as the Catalan government wants" with the trains, although he also defended the fact that the Generalitat (Catalan government) is rolling up its sleeves to improve customer service, quickly incorporate new trains, and work with the State to ensure investments are made. The case of the R3 is particularly paradigmatic: as it is a single-track line from Moncada Bifurcació, the rush-hour service frequency is every thirty minutes, and any incident along the route increases delays. The works to unfold it –which have been announced since the 1980s– started in 2023 with complaints about the poor functioning of the alternative service and will return this summer with new cuts. The line is centuries old—the first section, from Ripoll to Ribes de Freser, was inaugurated in 1919—and its modernization has been a historic demand of the region. The entire line—from L'Hospitalet to Tor de Querol—is 165.9 kilometers long, with a total journey time of almost four hours if there are no delays. By road, the same journey takes two and a quarter hours.

R3 users await these improvements stoically. "If it's free, you can't ask for more," said Ramon, a passenger, referring to the Cercanías (local train) passes that will expire in June if there are no changes. Maria, a student of early childhood education at the University of Vic, also explained that the train usually fails less in the mornings. "I have more problems on the way back," she said, resigned.