The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has retracted and cooled the debate on a possible long and imminent closure of the Barcelona-Madrid high-speed line while the renovation work lasts. The idea, launched last week by the minister himself following the accident between two trains in Urda, in Toledo, reopened an old debate in the sector and generated rejection from the Generalitat. Puente clarified this Tuesday that it is a "debate," and completely ruled out that it is a measure that could be implemented immediately. “I want to make it clear that no decision has been made,” said Puente, who acknowledged that perhaps he did not explain himself well.

The Spanish government is taking a step forward to respond to both the safety of the railway network and the victims of the tragic accident in Urda, in the province of Toledo. The President of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, had already hinted a few hours after the collision between the two trains at the intention to approve measures to reinforce high-speed safety. A service that, in the words of Sánchez himself, has been "hit" after experiencing two tragedies in less than a year; the one in Toledo and the one in Adamuz (Cordoba) last January. "The goal is to recover [the public's] confidence in the train," government sources insist.

"To make a comparison, it's like an airport control tower," describes a source from the railway sector who has visited the Atocha railway control center numerous times. A gigantic screen, from one end of the wall to the other, and in the middle the different workstations. And a lot of silence. That is the Adif room from where the railway traffic managers work, which has been under the media spotlight since Wednesday. A few hours after the accident between two high-speed trains in Urda, in Toledo, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, publicly came out to point out that the problem had been a human errorcommitted from one of these rooms. Specifically, he pointed to the order that a traffic manager gave to the driver of the AVE train that later collided with the Iryo train: "Resume travel as normal".

The tragic railway accident in Urda, in the province of Toledo, which has already left about seventy fatalities, has sparked unrest among railway workers, controllers, and train drivers, especially after this Wednesday the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, pointed directly to the "human error" of an operator in the Adif control center room.

"We need to broaden the focus. How many parts have failed?". This is asked by a union voice in the railway sector who, like many other workers, has not yet recovered from the tragic train accident in Urda, Toledo, which has caused at least 69 fatalities. They have lost a colleague – the driver of the Renfe train –; the trainee who was accompanying him remains missing, and they have expressed their unease over what they consider a direct finger-pointing by the Ministry of Transport at the operator of the Adif regulation and control center (CRC) in Atocha, who has been placed in the spotlight regarding the cause of the accident.

The unfortunate chain of technical failures and human errors that ended in the collision of two high-speed trains in Urda, Toledo, opens up many questions about how it could have happened and what technical factors could explain a disaster of these characteristics. Transport sector expert and director of the Terminus Transport Studies Centre, Joan Carles Salmerón, clarifies technical terms and the main unknowns still surrounding the accident for the ARA. There are six questions to provide context and understand key concepts.

Second railway tragedy in Spain in less than a year on the line between Seville and Madrid, which already ranks as one of the most tragic accidents in the state's railway history. This Wednesday, two high-speed trains, one Renfe AVE and another from Iryo, collided a few minutes before 9 a.m. in Urda, in the province of Toledo. The latest toll of victims stands at 68 dead, and more than a hundred injured admitted to hospitals, according to the government of Castilla-La Mancha. The final number of victims and missing persons, however, is still unknown and authorities fear it will continue to rise.

Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) has been forced to limit service again on the Llobregat-Anoia line due to a new incident involving Adif at the Gornal tunnel in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, very similar to the one from last week. All of this occurred 24 hours after service had been normalized following the previous breakdown at the same point. This was confirmed to ARA by sources from the public company.

Adif is struggling to keep up with copper thieves. The state-owned company, which manages the Catalan railway network, is facing serious logistical difficulties in finding the copper cable needed to replace all the material stolen from it in recent months. As ARA has learned, this year's flood of thefts, which exceeds all records to date, has pushed the company's reserve stocks to the limit, and it is now scrambling to cover all the needs required by the network and keep the system running.

The regulations allow it for certain vehicle models, and increasing demand makes it happen often: many passengers who take intercity buses habitually travel standing up. It also happened on Sunday, in the accident of the Sagalés bus in Fogars de Montclús, in the Montseny, which has already left at least 83 injured, twelve of whom are in serious condition. A balance that was closed this Monday evening after the Firefighters were able to remove the vehicle and have ruled out that the accident has caused more victims.

They are afraid and they do not hide it. "We are terrified. Because of what happened yesterday and what could happen on October 31st [when there is a new call for protest], on the 11th with the general strike, or on the 29th with the elections." The person speaking is Albert Moya, who, together with his father and his aunt, runs three flower stalls in Plaça de Catalunya that were destroyed yesterday. This Sunday he has reopened, with the windows broken and covered with cardboard. "Let's see what happens tonight, with the Barça - Madrid match, too. Now any spark can make violence break out again," he reflects.

Barcelona was one of the major European cities that had not yet been affected by the wave of violent protests that have been taking place in Europe for days, especially in France and Italy. Until this Saturday afternoon. About 500 young people, many of them minors, gathered in Plaça de Catalunya, alerted through social media and following the trail of unrest seen in other cities to express their rejection of the system. Without any clear slogan or banners, their attire—practically all in black or dark clothing and with hoods—already very much resembled the protests seen in other cities. And the riots did not take long to arrive.

"High-level" meeting at the Palau de la Generalitat to address the eternal crisis in Rodalies. President Salvador Illa and Minister Sílvia Paneque received Minister of Transport Óscar Puente, the Secretary of State for the sector, José Antonio Santano, and the presidents of Renfe, Adif, and Rodalies de Catalunya this Thursday morning in a meeting that Puente described as "monographic". The topic? The problems of Rodalies. Upon leaving, the minister admitted that he understands the users' frustration and promised them that everything "will improve".

Renfe has already begun the tasks to dismantle the train that caught fire on Monday on the high-speed line between Barcelona and Madrid and which has kept this corridor running at half capacity since then. The work to remove this part of the train, the most complicated one, began on the night between Thursday and Friday. Once cleared of scrap metal, it will be necessary to check the condition of the track and the catenary and, if necessary, repair it. Nevertheless, the infrastructure manager, Adif, is maintaining the planned schedule and expects that the line will be able to return to normal next week. Even so, at this time neither Renfe nor Adif can specify which exact day it will be possible to return to circulating on both tracks.

The Mossos d'Esquadra are investigating the discovery of a corpse floating in the sea between Sitges and Castelldefels, near Port Ginesta, which all indications point to being the lifeless body of the minor who went missing in Granollers. Sources consulted by the ARA indicate that the corpse, which is in an advanced state of decomposition, was wearing clothing that would match that of Rami, the twelve-year-old boy with autism who was last seen almost two weeks ago in Granollers during the floods. The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, confirmed this Thursday morning that it is indeed the missing minor and has sent a message of condolence to the family and friends.

Normal high-speed rail service between Barcelona and Madrid will not be restored until the beginning of next week. This was announced this Wednesday by the new spokesperson for Adif in Catalonia, Antonio Carmona, who explained that the work to remove the train affected by Monday's fire is complex and can only be carried out at night, because it is incompatible with train traffic on the adjacent track.

Over the last ten days, the Catalan railway network has relived the nightmare of January. A new storm tested the infrastructure and forced the suspension of all train services on Saturday evening. Since then, incidents and a new strike by train drivers have meant that the recovery of service has been gradual and uneven. Nevertheless, the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, stated this Friday that the network had responded "reasonably well" this time, and linked it, in part, to the 140 million invested after the January crisis to repair the infrastructure. This is the current state of the network, line by line:

The former director and historic spokesperson for Rodalies Renfe in Catalonia, Antonio Carmona, is now joining Adif: he will go from managing trains to coordinating infrastructure in Catalonia. This is stated in a resolution from Adif's public procurement portal. Carmona will be the new coordinator of the Rodalies de Catalunya network, meaning he will be in charge of promoting the development and full operability of the Catalan railway network.

New day of collapse at Rodalies. A wildcat strike by train drivers, as already happened last winter after storm Harry, has once again caused chaos on the Catalan railway network this Wednesday. A good number of the train drivers did not board the trains this morning, citing safety reasons after the heavy torrential rains that have fallen these days and, especially, after a tree and an embankment fell onto a train in Vilanova i la Geltrú on Tuesday night, without causing any injuries. The operator, Renfe, explained early on that there were "some trains" running "but not at 100%". They did not report, however, which trains were running and which were not, nor where they were passing, and directly recommended that users seek "alternative means".

First they said they would be ready in 2025. Then, in the summer of 2026 and later, at the beginning of 2027. Now, however, the schedule is delayed until the spring. The new trains that Alstom is manufacturing for Rodalies are taking a while to arrive. This was admitted this Thursday by the Secretary of State for Transport and Mobility, José Antonio Santano, in a talk at the Cercle d'Economia in Barcelona.