Quick and not excessively expensive actions at stations so that users begin to notice that something is improving. This is one of the lines of work that the Government has opted for to try to regain citizen confidence in Rodalies after its annus horribilis. The Government, the ministry, Renfe, and Adif have now announced the deployment of a plan for millionaire works, spread across various stations, which aims to transform these transit points into "decent" infrastructures while the major works, which will take years to complete and show results, are not yet underway.

In July 2023, in Portbou, two fins made an appearance on the beach, very close to the sand, and swimmers didn't think twice. Some swam quickly towards the shore. Shouts and nerves. Others, about fifteen, opted to temporarily take refuge on a large platform floating in Portbou bay. The scare was significant: they were two blue sharks, popularly known as "tintoreras," calmly swimming near the beach. Some bathers even managed to record the two specimens from the sand. And once again, the videos went viral on social media.

Beyond the traffic problems inherent in the railway network, last year it became clear that moving on foot, with reduced mobility, a stroller, or a wheelchair through Rodalies stations was often an insurmountable obstacle course. In March 2025, more than half of the elevators (52%) and almost half of the escalators at Rodalies stations were not working. "The situation was absolutely unsustainable, undesirable, and inadmissible," assures the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque. According to the Government, Renfe, and Adif, this situation of "neglect" has now been reversed.

The day after the collapse of the R2 works between Barcelona and Montcada, which caused a great scare and swallowed a large crane, the Secretary of State for Transport, José Antonio Santano, admitted that it would take "days" to fill the gap with concrete, but that, "if all goes well," train traffic could be restored next week. However, the secretary has asked for caution and acknowledged that a more concrete date for the resumption of service could be given from Saturday.

A blockage in the connection well of the works to bury the R2 line, on the border between Barcelona and Montcada i Reixac, swallowed a large crane and more heavy machinery this Wednesday at noon, but it did not cause injuries. Adif sources explained to ARA that no personal injuries were registered as a result of the incident, but the sinkhole has forced to to preventively interrupt the railway traffic between Montcada i Reixac and Sant Andreu without a specific restoration date, with affectations on R2, R2 Nord and R11.

The Rodalies crisis has triggered demand for buses as a mobility alternative, and this, in turn, is saturating some points in Barcelona. Fabra i Puig, Gran Via and also the Maria Cristina area, on Diagonal, have been suffering for months from the effects of an avalanche of alternative plans that, added to the interurban bus lines, are overwhelming mobility. Solving the underlying problem requires rethinking the model, building new stations and interchanges; that is, years of constructing new infrastructure. Therefore, while that doesn't happen, Barcelona City Council and the Generalitat have decided to take a first step to try to "ease up," at least, the Diagonal corridor.

Between January and June of this year, Barcelona has been the scene of 74,350 crimes and 17,359 arrests. This is 11.2% fewer crimes and a 6.7% reduction in arrests compared to the same dates last year. Therefore, crimes are generally decreasing and are sinking to the level of a decade ago, but nevertheless, the data from the latest barometer place crime as the second concern for Barcelona residents, only behind housing. This is the main conclusion of the latest Barcelona Security Board, which this morning made public the data on conflict in the Catalan capital.

When at the beginning of the year the big Rodalies crisis broke out –after the fatal accident in Gelida and the numerous damages caused by two storms– many users looked for an alternative to avoid the incidents of the conventional service. Those who could, switched to Avant trains: they are more expensive, but also faster, as they run between cities on the high-speed network with regulated fares, and accumulate many fewer delays. For many travelers, arriving on time for work, a medical appointment, or university has already become a priority that weighs more than the cost of the ticket.

Births in Catalonia rose slightly last year after 17 years of decline. In 2025, 28,019 boys and 26,230 girls were born, a total of 54,249 infants, representing an increase of 0.8% compared to 2024, according to provisional data released this morning by the Institute of Statistics of Catalonia, Idescat. This breaks a downward trend of almost two decades, although the increase is so slight that the crude birth rate remains at 6.7 births per 1,000 inhabitants, the same as in 2024.

More than half of Catalonia is forest. These are forest areas that over the last century have grown where there were once fields, crops, and agricultural activity that, over time, has been abandoned. And nature has reclaimed the land. These are young and dense forests that have occupied the space left by rural exodus and agricultural abandonment, which over the last century have pushed the population of villages towards cities.

It is destined to be the metro work with the longest tunnel in Europe. But the L9 works have already earned the title of "historic" and "controversial" for years, both for the delays the project has accumulated since the first plans and for the 6,000 million euros of cost overrun, according to the Court of Auditors. And since this Tuesday also for the 8-meter sinkhole that has forced the evacuation of six buildings in the Putxet neighborhood of Barcelona. But, at what point is this work? Where is the tunnel boring machine going? How does this large machine work and how is the tunnel built? We explain it to you in six key points:

Barcelona is stepping on the gas to have all the city's markets completely renovated in five years' time, by 2031. The Barcelona City Council explained this Monday that the new Strategic Market Plan for the 2026-2036 period foresees investing 100 million in the next five years to complete the reforms of these public facilities that were still pending. The ten markets to be renovated will be: La Boqueria – where the preliminary work phase has already begun –, La Mercè, Galvany, L'Estrella, Horta, Sant Martí, Felip II, Hostafrancs, and Canyelles. L'Abaceria – which began its works in the autumn of 2023 – will also reopen this autumn, completely remodeled.

The Generalitat is considering reintroducing barriers on the AP-7 to limit access and reduce the volume of vehicles that this major artery supports, especially since the tolls were eliminated, five years ago. This was confirmed this Friday by the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, after the debate on the reintroduction of tolls has been strongly reopened in Catalonia over the last two days.

Achieving the design of services "good for the whole territory" with the infrastructures we currently have – and those planned in the short term – and doubling the number of users: going from the current 455,000 daily travelers to one million passengers by 2040. This is the premise on which the Generalitat has been working for months and which it made public today with the presentation of the first Railway Services Plan of Catalonia, which should allow the critical situation of the Catalan railway network to be revived. This is how the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, and the Secretary of Mobility and Infrastructures, Manel Nadal, explained it this Tuesday afternoon. "They always tell us that the most orthodox thing would be to design the services first and then the infrastructures; well, we have done it," said Nadal.

"It's another lost opportunity," lament Platforma per la Llengua. The entity has denounced that the new decree extending interurban bus concessions —which had already been extended for decades— has not incorporated any clause into the text that guarantees the linguistic rights of Catalans to be attended to in their language and demands that the rule be modified in the upcoming proceedings. Above all, they point out from the sector, considering that recruitment at source has increased —outside of Catalonia, and even the European Union— due to the lack of Catalan drivers.

Antonio has been living with his apartment propped up for four and a half months, right on Gran Via in Barcelona. At the end of January, the ceiling of his room collapsed due to water leaks, and the Fire Department recommended keeping the props in place until a definitive repair could be made. A few weeks later, the same thing happened in the hallway, and shortly after, in another essential room of the house, the bathroom. The property owner fixed his bathroom, but this week the props are still holding up the beams in the bedroom and the hallway.

Summer arrives and works proliferate (even more) in Barcelona. The City Council and the Generalitat have made the now-classic announcement of mobility disruptions for this summer and have specified that they plan to carry out some forty actions in the Catalan capital. These are 24 works and 18 paving operations that will directly affect the city's mobility. As every year, the administration tries to accumulate many of these tasks in the summer, specifically in August, precisely because it is the period of the year with fewer vehicles and, consequently, with fewer disturbances for residents and less impact.

A new conflict front is opening in the La Mina neighborhood of Sant Adrià de Besòs. This morning, the Mossos d'Esquadra evicted the first three families out of the 58 that are expected to be removed in total from buildings occupied since 2017 on La Mina avenue. More evictions are planned for June 22, 25, and 29; and so on, until the building is emptied. The reason, according to the administration, is that these publicly owned apartments were built to house "the residents of the Venus building, from the same neighborhood,, and are now needed because the demolition of the building — presented as the key piece for the neighborhood's transformation — is finally planned for 2028..

This Sunday's event was the last major mobilization of teachers before the end of the school year, and also the unions' final warning to the Government that the resumption of classes in September could be just as turbulent if an agreement is not reached. Thousands of teachers and professors took to the streets again this morning in Barcelona to force "a change in public education". This time, moreover, they had another objective: to show that they have the support of families and society.

Traveling from Barcelona to Madrid by high-speed train now costs 44% less than five years ago, when the sector's liberalization began. Although prices have rebounded this year by 9% compared to 2025, the ticket price is now clearly lower than in 2019, according to data from Trainline, the train and bus ticket sales platform.