"Oh, it's difficult to say when the works will begin. It's a complex, very important and strategic line for the country. The urban planning part has been done since 2010 and now we will have to start with studies and projects. It won't be tomorrow; these infrastructures cost". These are statements by the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, to Catalunya Ràdio about the macro-project that has been decisive to unblock the approval of the budgets: the orbital railway line. ERC wants to reactivate a plan that has been in a drawer for twenty years to give its "yes" to the accounts. In fact, the Republicans present it as a future bet for a network that this year has experienced an unprecedented crisis and is still trying to recover some semblance of normality.

This morning, sports, Barça, gave us a reason to create a cheerful cover, that of theThe result has been another night of celebration for a fanbase that, unlike what happens in so many other aspects of the country, has high self-esteem. We hope that the adherence to Catalan identity that Barça has provided in a society of immigration continues to function thanks to these successes and the identification with this very young and very normal team. Another good piece of news: the PCR test on the Catalan woman who has been in isolation at the Hospital Clínic since Saturday has come back negative for hantavirus. The woman was admitted for quarantine because she had been in the same plane for a few minutes with the Dutch woman who contracted it on board the cruise ship and who ended up dying.The woman continues to show no symptoms and, in accordance with epidemiological surveillance protocols, will remain confined and under observation at the Clínic for prevention. In seven days, another PCR will be performed to confirm the negative result.And here we return to the harsh reality: from today onwards, the Rodalies service is once again subject to a charge. (It has always been subject to a charge, of course, we all pay for it: we are referring to the user's direct payment). Payment in exchange for what? The trains run when they want, the timetables are an intention, but of course, in many journeys, the train is a bus. The improvement of the service is being slow. It is clear that due to the harsh reality of education. A week of strikes in schools and institutes begins. Relations between the department and the unions are very tense. The only thing missing was for the unions to find out from the radio that the counselor wanted to see them on Thursday. They will meet on Thursday and, on top of that, we have the scandal of the infiltration of two Mossos agents into a teachers' assembly that we already talked about last Friday. Now that more details are known, apart from what it has of authoritarian regime espionage, it is even more humiliating that the police were discovered on such a simple mission.Let's see if it solves things a bit that we have budgets for this 2026. Late, but we will have budgets. So once the Andalusian elections have passed on Sunday, PSC and Esquerra will be able to present their agreement. It is scandalous, but Catalanophobia sets the pace of Spanish politics. Moreno Bonilla is campaigning to preside over Andalusia by constantly talking about Catalonia. After the breakdown weeks ago due to the new financing system for Catalonia, Esquerra set out to find a striking agreement. There is talk of a transfer of powers from the State, but in the meantime, Junqueras has explained that the agreement will include a train, curiously. This: An orbital axis that connects Maresme with Garraf, passing through the two Vallesos, Baix Llobregat and Penedès. In black the sections that exist and in yellow those that should be built. We are talking about up to 5,000 million euros of investment, which the State should largely provide. The project is old, but now they have taken it out of the drawer where it was sleeping.Good morning.

What a joy it is to be loved. We read in ARA that the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, has informed us that “Rodalies users will pay again to use the train starting next Saturday, May 9. Thus, the last day to use the railway network for free will be Friday, May 8”.

Since I'm in an era of misdeeds, when I feel I have to do everything I haven't done before (skydiving, walking the Camino de Santiago, getting a tattoo), I decide I'll take the infallible railways to go to Terrassa and, from there, take the dangerous Renfe to my Bagenc village. My daughter tells me: "You're not old enough to be doing crazy things as if you were fifteen." She doesn't dare. She'd rather hitchhike and let herself be picked up by one of those criminals who trick young girls than let herself be picked up by Renfe.

Sunday night, 30 minuts condensed the Rodalies drama, both from a historical perspective and from the analysis of the current situation. That the chronology of Renfe's poor service dated back to 1988 was an act of justice to all the users who suffered Renfe's serious deficiencies in silence and with resignation at that time. In fact, the report played with jumps to the past and showed how, since then, everything has gone from bad to worse. The images from 1988 and 2026 by Josep Maria Romeu, the spokesperson for the first Renfe users' platform, demonstrated this. An excellent resource. The archive images from TV3 became a damning proof of the grievances that Catalans have suffered with the precariousness of the service. News of accidents, misfortunes, fires, and breakdowns were accumulating and happening one after another, turning it into a very revealing film of events. In fact, you realized to what extent technological progress available to citizens has been what has allowed the countless deficiencies of Renfe to be denounced. Social networks and mobile phone cameras have allowed users to organize among themselves and publicly denounce the accumulation of blunders they have to endure every day. The testimonies were very well chosen. The exercise of following the journey of a few regular users was also very revealing, because any follow-up trip was a collection of incidents that reflected the chaos. The sequence of the passenger waiting for the alternative bus in Sant Cugat, being scolded by the driver and people recklessly crossing the roundabout, is excellent for confirming the poor organization and how user safety is put at risk.The report Renfe, the endless story reveals that Renfe has had no choice but to accept a forced exercise in transparency. The images from the Renfe control center at Clot station, from where operations are managed, were very revealing. One could call it a center of disarray, with the chaos of stressed workers interfering with each other. That panorama could inspire a sitcom, a workplace comedy. In fact, 30 minuts itself distilled an internal thread of a certain sarcasm. A bitter humor like that developed by passengers trapped by the incompetence of Adif and Renfe, this two-headed monster that cannot even agree with itself, as was also clear. The appearance of the singer Gerard Quintana in the middle of it all was the tragicomic echo of how the train ends up determining our lives.More than discovering anything to us, the 30 minutes served to immortalize an unforgivable mistreatment of the citizen, as documentary proof for the future. It will be necessary to see if in future generations these images will seem unthinkable to them or if they will only be the next victims of a new chapter in this endless story.

It was the worst moment of the railway crisis. There were disruptions on practically all lines, multiple daily alerts indicating problems with Rodalies (commuter rail) and more speed restrictions than ever. Users were at their limit and, to top it off, the train drivers went on strike. All this happened last February, when the Rodalies service experienced one of the most complicated moments in its history. Far from what users perceived, however, the statistics compiled by Renfe to analyze delays point in another direction: according to the operator, in February trains had an average delay of only 2 and a half minutes. speed restrictions than ever. Users were at their limit and, to top it off, the train drivers went on strike. All this happened last February, when the Rodalies service experienced one of the most complicated moments in its history. Far from what users perceived, however, the statistics compiled by Renfe to analyze delays point in another direction: according to the operator, in February the trains had an average delay of only 2 and a half minutes.This is reflected in theMonthly Report on Commuter Rail Service Punctuality that Renfe prepares for all autonomous communities each month. It specifies that the delay is 2 and a half minutes if all trains are taken into account (punctual, early, and delayed) and that, if only the trains that are late are taken into account, then the average delay climbs to 26 minutes. But how is it explained that the month when the network worked worst, with a train drivers' strike included, the trains were delayed so little on average? Renfe explains that this statistic only takes into account delays that are "attributable to the operator and over which Renfe can act to improve", and not any other external element, such as all infrastructure incidents, for example. In fact, Renfe's figures indicate that if only problems arising from the operator itself are taken into account, 90% of trains were delayed by less than five minutes. On the other hand, if all circumstances are added up, only 16% of trains arrived on time. "The publication of this data – continue the operator's spokespeople – is a further step in the transparency policy that no other operator is undertaking," they point out.The company's own president, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, explained it this way in a message responding to the spokesperson for the Dignitat a les Vies platform, Anna Gómez, on the social network X.

It was one of the reasons that generated the most warnings from train drivers during the peak moments of the railway crisis: the number of trees that fell on or very close to the train tracks has forced Adif to cut down 13,680 trees between January and March. The rain and wind storms Harry and Ingrid exposed the weakness of the Catalan railway network in the face of meteorological inclemencies, and this is reflected in Adif's statistics. Of the total trees felled during this period, the infrastructure manager removed 8,380 as part of its usual vegetation control plan and an additional 5,300 trees as part of the emergency plan for the storms. The most affected area was the Maçanet-Portbou route, in the north of the country.

The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, met this morning at first light with the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, at Palau, to address the situation in which Renfe's commuter service in Catalonia has been immersed since the crisis opened in January, with the accidents in Adamuz and Gelida. This is the first meeting between the two leaders since the railway crisis broke out, almost three months ago. Puente and Illa arranged this meeting by taking advantage of the fact that the minister has been in Barcelona since yesterday because he attended the first edition of the AENA literary awards last night.

Problems are piling up on the R2 Sud Rodalies line, in Garraf, since the tunnel maintenance works began two weeks ago. The alternative transport plan designed to ensure train circulation while the work continues is not working. The reason? Some of the drivers have refused to work with the new schedules defined by Renfe for this operation, which has rendered the new timetable for the trains useless, as they now run on a single track due to the works. The Spanish drivers' union Semaf alleges that the company did not comply with the established deadlines to give sufficient notice of the changes.

The tragedies in Adamuz and Gelida in January, which caused 47 fatalities, cast doubt on the entire Spanish railway system, not only because the accidents called into question the maintenance and safety of the network, but also because since then train travel has not been the same. In Catalonia, Rodalies still suffers from line closures, speed restrictions and service delays, and high-speed journey times have lengthened. Trips from Barcelona to Madrid now take half an hour longer due to the system, and there are unexpected delays and stops on the tracks without anyone providing any explanation to users. The reason is the speed restrictions imposed by the ministry – especially on the Zaragoza-Calatayud stretch – following incidents reported by train drivers. What complaints are we talking about? Were there more incidents than usual after Adamuz? Did the labor dispute between the Semaf union and the ministry, which ended in a strike, have anything to do with it? And more importantly, what actions has Transport taken to resolve the state of the infrastructure? ARA made a transparency request to the Spanish government to clarify these points, but the request has been rejected. In other words, the public administration has refused to release this information, and the Communications Department of the Ministry of Transport refers to the official response given through the transparency process.

For over a week now, the intercity bus stop on Gran Via, located between Aribau and Muntaner streets, has been teeming with activity. From six in the evening onwards, it becomes an unstoppable hive of activity: buses double-parked, horns blaring, and passengers rushing from work to get home to the various towns in the Garraf region, where these buses serve. Where three buses used to stop, up to six now stop—double the usual number. The reason? Once again, the economic crisis and the commuter rail construction.

The southern commuter rail corridor, one of the most strained sections of the Catalan rail network, continues to face setbacks. This March, it was announced that one of the key projects intended to improve train capacity and flow on this section of the R2 South line—the quadrupling of the tracks between Castelldefels and El Prat—has been stalled once again and is now pushed back to well beyond 2030. The reason? A change of heart by the Ministry of Transport has sent the project back to square one: the initial administrative procedures must begin anew, rendering the original timeline meaningless. Adding these tracks to the R2 line is considered one of the most significant actions in the Commuter Rail Plan in terms of improving capacity in this area. The project is not new; it first appeared in the 2020 Commuter Rail Plan. In mid-2024, with Adif's approval, the construction project was drafted. At that time, the work was considered simply an "expansion" of the existing infrastructure, which technically allowed bureaucratic steps to move forward.

A technical issue at the Adif station in Sant Vicenç de Calders, Tarragona, is currently causing disruptions on seven Renfe commuter rail lines: R2 South, R4, R13, R14, R15, R16, and R17, according to both companies. The rail infrastructure manager, Adif, explained that the problem affects the infrastructure that controls signaling, track switches, and train movement at this location, and that technicians are working to restore the system and return the network to normal. Meanwhile, on the R2 South line, service is suspended between Cunit and Sant Vicenç. On the R4 line, the disruption is between El Vendrell and Sant Vicenç. The interruption on the R14, R15, R16, and R17 lines is between Torredembarra and Sant Vicenç, and on the R13 line, between Roda de Berà and Sant Vicenç.

For months, users had been demanding action, and the Catalan government had assured them it would address the issue. Finally, this Thursday, Renfe announced that it will replace some of the trains offering Avant services to provide more daily seats between Lleida, Tarragona, and Barcelona starting next week. These regulated-fare high-speed trains, used to connect major cities, have become an alternative, albeit a more expensive one, for most commuter rail users, given the constant chaos of the conventional Catalan rail network. as NOW already explainedBut demand has increased so much that the service was also on the verge of collapse.

The surge in investments, construction projects, and also disruptions to railway infrastructure and service interruptions across the country has dramatically increased the number of alternative road transport plans that Renfe has in place. Finding available buses at a reasonable price is no easy task when multiple problems coincide, and this has led the Spanish train operator to embark on a new project: Renfe now wants to create its own bus company to avoid relying on private providers. This was explained by spokespeople for the operator on Tuesday in a statement detailing that the tender for the new subsidiary has already been approved. Its objective is to handle all alternative road transport plans (known as PATs in railway jargon) designed for each train. In this way, Renfe will no longer have to depend on the availability of external companies and assures that it will be able to provide a "more agile" response to passengers, "with more personalized attention and a better integrated service."

This article aims to define how train services in Catalonia can be separated with two objectives: to clearly identify the responsibilities of the Catalan government (Generalitat) and the central government, and to facilitate their management. The proposal negotiated between the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and the central government does not achieve this goal. Responsibilities are shared, and management is entrusted to Renfe, an operator that has demonstrated its shortcomings in the current model. This is the solution that will most likely be implemented because it is the quickest and most practical: first, we recover the commuter and regional train services. When the system's limitations become apparent again in the short term, it will be necessary to remember that better alternative solutions exist. The one proposed here is one of them.

She gets off the bus to catch another, and a short train ride remains before she reaches her destination. From the UAB to Vilafranca, "it takes two and a half hours if everything goes well," Paula Pàmies replies resignedly as she heads home. A month earlier, the journey on the R4 and R8 lines, with a transfer in Martorell, took "an hour," and she admits to being "fed up with waiting and rushing for nothing."

What has happened to us in recent weeks, from the announcement of a new regional financing model to the commuter rail collapse that will last, at the very least, throughout this year? The short answer is: we have suffered from a large fiscal deficit and poor regional funding. We are paying more attention.

I would have preferred to go to Girona by train, because with high speed it's a breeze, but I went by car. It took almost three times as long and, according to ChatGPT, I emitted almost five times more CO₂. But that way I made sure to arrive on time, calculating, of course, a generous margin for my departure time, just in case the ring roads had an unpleasant surprise in store for me, which wasn't the case.

«How are you? I'm Natàlia Vila, a journalist in charge of the infrastructure and mobility section at ARA. My job mainly consists of explaining and monitoring the management and operation of the commuter rail system in Catalonia." This is how she addressed the Telegram group of ARA Award subscribers“Trains take up about 75% of my time under normal circumstances… but in the last three weeks, the situation has consumed all my hours, as well as those of many colleagues who have joined this team as reinforcements to be able to report everything as accurately as possible,” she added. It was the day of the Renfe and Adif staff strike, which further aggravated the crisis. Natàlia Vila highlighted the main factors: “Many decades of political decisions that have prioritized high-speed rail over commuter rail, a lack of maintenance—experts and train drivers say the methods used are questionable—and, of course, a failure to implement the budgeted investments.” She added that it is an additional difficulty “to make decisions 600 kilometers away.”