€53.8 billion by 2043 to prevent the collapse of infrastructure in Catalonia. This is the calculation made by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce through its new Infrastructure Observatory, which produced the study. Strategic projects for Cataloniawhich affects airports, railways, roads, ports, logistics, and water transition. "Current investment must be doubled," summarized the Chamber's vice president, Miquel Martí. Without addressing the investment deficit, "the system will collapse," he said. The Chamber representative called for a national agreement on the matter, led by the Catalan government. The president of the Chamber and of the Council of Chambers of Commerce of Catalonia, Josep Santacreu, stated that the necessary effort cannot be undertaken "without a united effort," such as "a major national agreement on infrastructure," and called for "local management" of these projects.

The Barcelona Chamber of Commerce has described the current collapse of the railway system in Catalonia as a "tragedy" and has harshly criticized both the planning and execution so far of the commuter rail plan for 2020-2030. The Chamber denounced delays of hundreds of millions of euros in both the bidding and execution phases of infrastructure projects, according to business entity Alicia Casart. However, the Chamber's vice president, Miquel Martí, advocated giving "a vote of confidence" to the Ministry and the two state-owned companies that manage the affected infrastructure, Adif and Renfe. Specifically, Casart recalled that, prior to the system collapse two weeks ago, the commuter rail service had suffered from deficiencies for years, to the point that it had become "normal" for "users' patience to be routinely pushed beyond its limits," resulting in a "low quality" of the network. Therefore, she added, the commuter rail plan approved by the Spanish government was intended to "make up for lost time" and "bring the network up to date." This is complemented by the creation of a new mixed operating company with a stake held by the Catalan government (although the State retains a majority stake) and progress in transferring the infrastructure to the Catalan administration. However, the head of infrastructure at the Chamber of Commerce asserted that the plan is experiencing implementation delays, both in the bidding process for construction projects and in their execution. Thus, according to the initial plan, Adif, Renfe, and the Ministry of Transport are €800 million behind schedule. The execution of works and nearly €1 billion more in tenders—a delay that will ultimately penalize future projects as well: "Today's tenders are the news in Barcelona." Casart also criticized the plan's poor planning regarding the necessary actions. Specifically, the plan included a €1.018 billion program for replacing all types of assets on the network and at Renfe, which was progressing at a "fairly good" pace in 2024. However, that same year, the copper theft at Torre Baró triggered "a series of fires that crippled the Rodal network." This incident "set off all the alarms," ​​as it compounded other problems between 2023 and 2025, causing "a range of incidents that could not be explained solely by the volume of renovation work" being carried out on the railway infrastructure.

A street less than six meters wide runs alongside the Portbou riverbank, still carrying water from the recent rains, leading to the only vehicle access point for the second largest rail freight warehouse in Spain. It's 180,000 square meters, long forgotten, near the French border, but these days the paralysis of infrastructure in Catalonia is felt more acutely than ever after the accident in Gelida and the closure of the Rubí tunnel, through which freight passes. 23,000 tons of steel are piled up in the large warehouse in Portbou belonging to the rail logistics operator Railsider, which specializes in the steel industry. And another 8,000 tons are on their way. Operating since 1997, Railsider is the only operator still active in this last town on the Costa Brava, but in almost three decades it has never experienced a situation like this.

With fifteen minutes to go before the protest called by railway unions in front of the Ministry of Transport, a group of demonstrators traveling from Tarragona were still 60 kilometers from Madrid. Victims of their own crisis, the problems plaguing the high-speed rail line between the Catalan and Spanish capitals prevented them from reaching the demonstration. Finally, some 300 people—many wearing fluorescent vests—made their presence felt at Nuevos Ministerios, the complex of buildings that houses the headquarters of five ministries, including the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, headed by Óscar Puente. The flags of the six unions that had converged there—red, black, green, white, and blue—waved, creating a cross-section of the entire "railway family." Workers from Renfe, Iryo, and Ouigo shared the space with workers from Adif. These are the companies at the center of the storm following the Adamuz and Gelida accidents and the commuter rail chaos. "This must mark a turning point, a watershed moment," says Pepa Páez, general secretary of the CCOO railway sector, from the stage. "We cannot allow ourselves to normalize what is not normal, we cannot resign ourselves to the railway functioning on a patchwork of solutions," she adds. Noelia Martín, from the CGT, agrees and believes that the recent accidents are not "isolated incidents," but rather "another symptom of the chronic illness" afflicting trains in Spain. And Diego Martín, general secretary of the Spanish Union of Railway Drivers (Semaf), demands immediate changes and a "review of the sector and all its measures," lamenting the insufficient effort dedicated to maintaining the rail network.

Overcrowded trains, delays, people stranded on the platform... The railway collapse in Catalonia could at least have a "relatively easy" solution, according to the latest report by Comisiones Obreras (Workers' Commissions). At the beginning of the month, this union dusted off a project they had already attempted to launch four years ago, in 2021, and which they now consider "more necessary than ever." The aim is to shake up the current "scarce" Avant services (which offer medium-distance high-speed journeys at regulated prices) to create a "real" Catalan public network of high-speed trains for medium-distance journeys, adequate to current demand and allowing the working class and students to travel to work or university every day. And to do so with sufficient seats, on time, and at competitive prices.

In 2019, and in the framework of the climate summit that was to take place in Chile and was finally held in Madrid, the initiative was named Sail to the COP. This 2021, and after a blank year due to the pandemic, the equivalent project for the meeting that starts in Glasgow this Sunday is called Rail to the COP. The two operations have been promoted by Youth for Sustainable Travel (YFST), based in the Netherlands, and aim to encourage travel that is as environmentally friendly as possible.