The effect of the torrential rains this Wednesday night has once again highlighted the weaknesses of the railway network. A circulation stoppage has affected the R2, R2 North, and R11 lines almost all day between Barcelona (Sant Andreu) and Granollers Centre. The reason? The rain caused two new holes to appear in the ground of the tracks, very close to the point where last July a large sinkhole swallowed a crane from the Rodalies construction works, at the height of Vallbona. Circulation resumed this afternoon shortly before 5:30 PM, and trains will progressively recover their usual schedules, as reported by Renfe. For now, the alternative bus service is being maintained.

The Minister of Interior, Núria Parlon, defended this Thursday that the mobile alerts for the intense rains on Wednesday night were sent in light of predictions of "sudden" floods. "They do not arrive late, but rather when the population must protect itself," she argued. The minister said this in a joint appearance with the deputy director of Civil Protection of the Generalitat, Sergi Delgado, in which they reported on the management of some downpours that caused the death of a 48-year-old driver in Olivella, in the Garraf region, when he was trying to cross the Begues stream with his car, in addition to cuts on roads and trains, flight cancellations, and various floods.

The President of the Generalitat traveled to Extremadura yesterday to celebrate the National Day there. He said he was going there to present and share an “open, inclusive, and solidary Catalonia.” I wonder when it stopped being open, inclusive, and solidary. Or does open, inclusive, and solidary mean Spanish? Who is the President saying all this to? To Madrid? To the King? To the Ibex-35? To PSOE voters in Catalonia, so they don’t vote for Abascal? Because Illa will leave, and the Extremaduran government will continue to instill the same old prejudices in Extremadurans. Notice that yesterday, to argue that she is against the new financing system, the Extremaduran President, María Guardiola, said that she wants to prevent a new wave of Extremaduran migration from repeating itself. I wonder what 43 years of autonomy has done for Extremadura if we are still like this.As you know, on these occasions the word that is repeated the most is solidarity. And after decades of seeing the fiscal effort we make in Catalonia, one wonders where the solidarity with the Catalans is, among whom there are thousands and thousands of children and grandchildren of Extremadurans, who have to take Rodalies every day, or the AP-7, or have to queue on healthcare waiting lists. I insist, good neighborliness is always good, but it must be based on respect and truth.And speaking of defending the Catalans for the services they pay the State for but which the State does not provide them, let's talk about Rodalies. The cable theft at the Estació de França, in Barcelona, caused delays on the R2 south line. Man, when they can already steal the cable at the Estació de França itself, it's not that you have your guard down, but rather that you have no guard at all, and that goes for Adif. It is the sixth theft in 10 days. And since a piece of news is better understood alongside another:A young woman creates a system to alert about Renfe and Adif delays. It is a system invented by Marina Castellano, a 24-year-old engineer from Badalona, which warns of Rodalies incidents up to three-quarters of an hour before the official channels. Nothing more needs to be said, right? It is a system that detects, verifies, and processes thousands of messages on social networks about breakdowns. Castellano is a student of mathematical engineering in data science at Pompeu Fabra University, and when she had to approach her final degree project (TFG), the idea of improving Rodalies information immediately came to mind "to make life a little easier for users". If a student can do it, why don't those who are paid to do it do it? Because they don't think about the people, that is, about the service they provide.

Improving communication and information for travelers and making it "excellent" is one of the priorities that the Government has been demanding from Renfe and Adif for years. When a train is late, users often express that getting information and alternatives – or often simply knowing what is happening – is practically an impossible mission. Marina Castellano knows this well. She is from Badalona, has just turned 24, and is a user of Rodalies. She is also a student of mathematical engineering in data science at Pompeu Fabra University. For this reason, when she had to approach her final degree project (TFG), the idea of improving information for Rodalies immediately came to mind "to make life a little easier for users".

Another morning of railway chaos on the R2 South line. And, once again, the disruptions have to do with a copper theft in the area of the Estació de França in Barcelona: it is the sixth time in just ten days that the same event has occurred, and Adif confirms that it has again sent its technicians to the area to replace all the stolen material.

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.

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.

A new scare related to railway works has caused the precautionary evacuation of about eighty residents of Trinitat Vella, in Barcelona, as reported by La Vanguardia and confirmed by ARA. According to municipal sources, shortly after 3:30 AM this morning, residents of three buildings located at numbers 75-103 of Pérez del Pulgar street, near the area of the collapse in Montcada i Reixac a few days ago, called 112 after noticing vibrations and movements in the buildings. "Everything was moving as if it were a small earthquake. It wasn't a simple vibration," explains Beni, one of the affected residents, who assures that the episode generated concern among the residents.

Lines R13, R14, R15, R16 and R17 of Rodalies are accumulating delays that may exceed 30 minutes since Monday morning due to a technical incident between Sitges and Garraf stations. The disruption originated from a train breakdown, which was stopped until passengers were transferred to another train. Once the transfer was completed, the train was able to resume service. In addition, Rodalies also reported an infrastructure incident on this same stretch. Although the forecast was to gradually recover schedules throughout the morning, the affected lines continue to not return to normal, and at 3 PM in the afternoon, delays of more than half an hour are still maintained.

The three lines affected by the collapse of the tracks this Wednesday in Montcada i Reixac are now running again. The R2, R2 Nord, and R11 have resumed service this Sunday morning between the stations of Sant Andreu and Montcada i Reixac, which had been stopped since the collapse of one of the shafts from the works to bury the tracks on the border between the two cities. Temporarily, a speed limit has been set on the affected stretch.

Three days after the collapse that on Wednesday swallowed a crane at the R2 line's underground works, Adif and Renfe have announced key steps to restore traffic on the affected tracks, but without yet specifying when the R2, R2 Nord, and R11 will return to normal operation. This Saturday at noon, Adif declared the sinkhole repaired after finishing filling the hole that opened on the border between Barcelona and Montcada i Reixac with concrete. Once all safety checks were completed, Renfe began conducting empty test runs, with empty trains, before restoring service.

A worker who was carrying out maintenance on the train tracks near Sant Mori (Alt Empordà) died early this Saturday morning. According to police sources, he suffered an electric shock while maintaining the railway line, halfway between the Sant Miquel de Fluvià and Camallera stations. At the latter, Adif has been carrying out works for some time. The victim is a 66-year-old man.

Alongside fires and heatwaves, this is also proving to be the summer of transport construction incidents: in a short time, we've had two sinkholes and an explosion. If winter was marked by the tragic accidents in Gelida and Adamuz, now, fortunately so far without loss of human life, we are suffering surprising ground collapses in major public works. What is happening to us?

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.

A year ago, the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Ministry of Transport, the City Council of Figueres and Adif seal the agreement to move the Figueres train station from the center, currently the commuter and medium-distance services arrive at the high-speed train station site, next to Vilafant. The plan, with a total investment exceeding 150 million euros, foresees the construction of a railway bypass and the unification of all train services on the outskirts, to the northwest of the city, in a single intermodal station. This will allow the dismantling of the tracks that cross the urban center at ground level, which cause mobility problems due to level crossings and disturbances to nearby houses. The project's drafting has already been awarded and work is progressing according to the planned schedule.

One cold and one hot at the works that Adif has underway on the Catalan road network. The work on the Garraf railway tunnels has finished a week earlier than planned and will be able to reopen next Monday the 8th. On the other hand, the infrastructure manager has reported that the R3 works are being extended again: the first phase, which was due to open last May, will not be completed until the end of the year.

"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.

New chapter in the investigation to clarify why two trains collided in Adamuz, in the province of Cordoba, on January 18, an accident that caused 46 fatalities. If last week the Civil Guard pointed out that the main hypothesis was a track break that occurred 22 hours before the incident without any Adif system detecting it, this Monday evening the company managing the railway infrastructure in Spain has corrected the police force. Specifically, Adif's president, Pedro Marco, has assured that the Civil Guard did not correctly interpret the technicalities on which it bases its conclusion that the rail was already broken.

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.