The closure of the AP-7 motorway caused by the Gelida train accident could last for days, according to the Catalan Traffic Service (Servei Català de Trànsit). This incident not only affects the mobility of people but also has a major impact on the transport and logistics sector, not only in Catalonia but throughout Spain. The AP-7 is the main route for freight traffic from Europe to the Iberian Peninsula and from Spain—and even much of the Maghreb—to Europe. In fact, this route is part of a corridor designated as a priority by the European Union. Furthermore, Catalonia accounts for more than 25% of Spanish exports, a large portion of which leave via this motorway. The motorway is owned by the Spanish state and, until 2021, was operated under a concession agreement with the company Abertis. With the expiration of the concession, tolls were removed, and the motorway was placed under direct state management. The removal of tolls coincided with the economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, and traffic on this road skyrocketed. According to the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, this road is "at the limit" of its operational capacity. In fact, just six months ago, the institution, headed by Josep Santacreu, was requesting an investment of over €1 billion from the government to improve its capacity and functionality. The Chamber's study highlighted that in 2019, before the pandemic, approximately 77,000 vehicles passed daily on the Papiol section in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. By 2024, after the health crisis had subsided and tolls were eliminated, traffic on this section had reached 107,700 vehicles per day. In other words, in five years, the volume had increased by 23,100 light vehicles and approximately 7,600 heavy vehicles. With this volume of traffic, it's no wonder that haulers are urging authorities to reopen the closed section of the road as soon as possible. The sector emphasizes that safety "is a priority," but asks that any necessary work be carried out "as soon as possible." The president of the Catalan Confederation of Road Transport Businesses (CETCAT), Eduard Ayach, told ACN that the alternative routes to the highway are "insufficient," and therefore he is calling for "the necessary investments" to be made to ensure there are no disruptions when incidents occur on the AP-7. CETCAT has not yet calculated the economic losses, but they indicate that disruptions "will certainly occur" and will affect businesses. "We're talking about the fact that the economic sectors have been demanding a greater expansion of the AP-7, a fourth ring road, and alternative routes for many years. We believe that mobility and infrastructure are insufficient," Ayach lamented.

The AP-7 motorway is the backbone of the country. The other roads are limbs of a structured body. The AP-7 was designed with sufficient quality (compare it to the A-2 in Lleida) and has been a toll road for 50 years, extended by the addition of a third lane (and, consequently, by extension on the C-32). The only ministerial magnanimity was the addition of a fourth lane on the Vallès section and the removal of the Bellaterra toll, by which time more cars were already using the side lanes than the main carriageway. Today, the AP-7 serves as a major connector between the entire Iberian Peninsula, Europe, and Morocco. Heavy goods vehicles account for more than a quarter of the total traffic. Every day, the AP-7 carries up to 13,000 trucks through La Jonquera, and more than 25,000 travel along the central section in Vallès.

Traveling from Barcelona to Valencia by train is much more complicated than going to Madrid, even though the two cities are closer together. In the best-case scenario, the Euromed journey takes three and a half hours, an hour longer than traveling to Madrid. This centralized design of the rail network has hampered the connection between the Catalan and Valencian capitals for decades, and now seems closer to being remedied. The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, set a new timetable this Thursday for the Mediterranean Corridor, one of the major outstanding issues for strengthening the national rail network. He made this announcement before 2,500 business leaders gathered in Valencia, at an event organized for years by the Valencian Business Association (AVE) to demand the implementation of this infrastructure, and which is being held for the last time. According to Puente, Barcelona and Valencia will be connected by high-speed rail within two years. This objective will be achieved when the standard gauge conversion between Tarragona and Castellón is completed, work that will allow for international gauge trains to run on the route connecting Barcelona and Valencia. The development of the double-track line between Valencia and Castellón will remain pending, and the environmental impact statement will be requested in the coming weeks. The Socialist government also anticipates that the Mediterranean Corridor infrastructure, connecting Almería to the French border, will be completed by 2027. However, the minister has not set a date for the complete construction of the entire infrastructure, which will originate in Algeciras, because the section between Granada and Almería is the least developed and will also have to overcome significant technical complexities. Despite the continued delays, the progress on the Mediterranean Corridor coincides with the investment effort undertaken by the Spanish government since Pedro Sánchez took office. Since 2018, €8.327 billion has been put out to tender, of which €5.389 billion has already been spent, with works underway in all the autonomous communities through which the Mediterranean Corridor passes. According to the Ministry, during this period the percentage of infrastructure in service has increased from 21% to 36%, and the percentage under construction has risen from 45% to 83%. In Catalonia alone, new works worth nearly €917 million have been put out to tender and €1.397 billion has been spent, with a significant portion of the budget allocated to completing the long-delayed Sagrera station project. These works are "practically finished" with regard to the railway component of the future station, which will have represented an investment of €1 billion.

The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has come to Barcelona to deliver a message of calm. "There is money and there are many projects underway," he said at a meeting with business leaders at the Círculo de Economía (Economic Circle), before outlining the main initiatives and investments his ministry has planned for Catalonia; some as complicated and historic as the transfer of the commuter rail network, the expansion of the airport, and the improvement of access to the port.

More than 1,300 businessmen met this Wednesday at the fairgrounds of Ifema, in Madrid, to demand the acceleration of the construction of the Mediterranean Corridor. They were convened by the platform Quiero Corredor, driven by the Valencian Association of Entrepreneurs (AVE), which of late has been at the forefront of this historic claim which, however, has the support of entrepreneurs from regions around the Mediterranean regardless of their political allegiance. The Catalan government, as it does in other areas, such as financing, which presuppose an autonomous relationship within the State, has for years now ceased to be at the forefront of these claims, despite the fact that, logically, the Catalan business community is fully committed to it and demands support from the Catalan Government. We must remember, however, why we still do not have this corridor and, also, why it is likely that we will have it before 2030. We do not have it because the People's Party did not want it and continues to consider it a threat to its project of a radial Spain in which everything has to begin and end in Madrid, be it trains, money or companies. So little did it want it that in 2012, when Rajoy was in government, Spain was the only country in the European Union to vote against it because its proposal was to make the Mediterranean Corridor also pass through Madrid and connect it with Europe with a tunnel through the Aragonese Pyrenees that the French refused to endorse. And we will have it because Europe does consider it a priority project and, therefore, assumes 40% of its cost. Furthermore, there is unanimity among the business world that it is a necessary and fundamental infrastructure to boost the Spanish economy.