On a vacant lot near the Treball Digne bridge in Barcelona's Sant Andreu district, carts piled high with suitcases, bicycles, and other personal belongings are piled up. The owners have hastily gathered their possessions and remain nearby, sitting silently on the bridge itself or at its ends, or gathered on benches, waiting to find out where they can go for shelter. They are more than a hundred people who lived in two shantytown settlements located on land owned by Adif (the Spanish railway infrastructure manager), which a large contingent of Barcelona's Guardia Urbana (municipal police) and the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) evicted and dispersed this Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. The Barcelona City Council has reported that the operation was prompted by a Fire Department report concluding that there was a "very serious and imminent" risk to the people living in these conditions, leading to the decision to intervene "urgently," as there was a "risk to their lives." According to Barcelona Fire Chief Sebastià Massagué, a fire broke out last weekend in one of the shacks. "The report simply emphasizes the safety of the people and highlights the risk of anyone else being trapped," he said. 126 people were evacuated from the shacks, located on a plot of land in the Sagrera area, four of whom were women, according to Sant Andreu councilor Marta Villanueva. There were no minors among them. The area, with about forty shacks, contained combustible materials, including waste, electrical appliances, tents, propane tanks, portable stoves, and small fires, all of which increased the risk of fire and, therefore, rapid spread. In fact, Massagué said that some people were even sleeping in an electrical substation. "We wanted to prevent further casualties," he explained.

In the subsoil of Barcelona, ​​more than 1,322 Civil War shelters have been officially recorded, but many more remain undocumented, and new ones are discovered every year. The latest was unearthed during the construction work at La Sagrera station and was not included in the 1938 shelter census. The structure, linked to the former freight station, is notable for its bunker-like design, and its state of preservation is quite remarkable. Begun in 1917, the freight station became fully operational in 1923 and for many years also served as a customs post for goods arriving from abroad. It was dismantled in the 1990s and is slated for demolition. According to the Archaeology Service, this is a private shelter that served the former freight station and has remained hidden for decades. The CNT collectivized the railway sector during the Civil War, and it was the workers who promoted and built the shelter. "The structure had been completely hidden and only emerged due to the earthworks involved in the current railway project and the future redevelopment of this area," explains the Barcelona City Council in a press release. The route of this shelter connected the two buildings that stood on either side of the entrance to the old freight terminal. One of them was demolished last decade, while the second still stands and houses Adif's offices.

"There will be 12 weeks of cuts to Rodalies commuter trains which are absolutely essential to finish the work for the Sagrera train station". This is the message of consensus that sources from the Spanish government, rail infrastructure operator Adif and the Generalitat have emphasised, detailing the works that will be carried out this autumn in Sagrera. The actions will cause disruption to the service for almost three months. They will begin this weekend, on September 17, and will last until the December long weekend. It is one of the biggest disruptions to the Rodalies network since Sants train station was built. Once they are completed, the new underground route of the Barcelona-Granollers-Girona line and the new Sant Andreu station will come into service.