A scare in La Garriga. Part of a bridge spanning the Onze de Setembre avenue in the town collapsed this Saturday morning. The incident caused no injuries, but forced the closure of the central avenue. The Town Hall explained that the area is affected by the R3 line doubling works, which have kept rail service suspended since autumn. The council maintains that it is a safety risk zone and alleges that the collapse is due to "poor execution of the works." Therefore, they announce that they will demand explanations and accountability from Adif, the infrastructure manager and the company responsible for the project. According to municipal sources, the Onze de Setembre avenue is a busy thoroughfare and a main route between the eastern and western parts of the town. The collapse occurred mid-morning, at a time when no vehicles were passing, which is why no injuries were reported. The R3 roadworks have caused mobility restrictions in this area since January, and the City Council says they have been complaining for some time that the work is not being carried out "properly." The mayor of La Garriga, Meritxell Budó, explained to ARA that she believes there is a "lack of coordination" that is leaving the works unfinished. In a message on social media, the Councilor for Economic Development, Commerce, Mobility, and Climate Action, Àlex Valiente, explained that the situation in the municipality with the construction "creates hazardous situations." Valiente asserted that the council has been denouncing this "at every follow-up meeting" for some time. "And in the end, it happened," he concluded before demanding "immediate solutions."

This week the new Cercanías Cataluña commuter rail line has started operating. This joint venture between Renfe (State) and the Generalitat This marks a turning point in the transfer of the Cercanías commuter rail network and represents a complete overhaul of railway management, which will now be based in Catalonia. However, the Minister of Territory – and now also president of the new company – Sílvia Paneque, has already made it clear that "the changes will not be immediate," but that improvements should begin to be noticeable as the new Cercanías team assumes its responsibilities. Among the more than one hundred projects underway, these are the main challenges that the network (and the new company) must address in 2026:

A second consecutive day of problems on the R3 commuter rail line. A second incident affected service on this line, which crosses Central Catalonia, during the early morning hours. Passengers attempting to travel on this Renfe line this morning found it closed from La Garriga to Puigcerdà due to a problem with the infrastructure managed by Adif. The company explained that the cause of the outage was the theft of a cable from the communications system. Workers were able to replace the equipment and resume service at 7:46 a.m. However, Renfe has already implemented an alternative transportation system using buses to ensure passengers can travel. In fact, even though the line has been repaired, there may be changes to schedules and frequencies, which will be gradually restored as service resumes. The R3 line runs vertically across the region, from Tor de Querol and Puigcerdà to L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, passing through Vic and Barcelona. This line has also been undergoing a major track-doubling project for months, with partial closures lasting months or even years, to add more tracks to the route, as it is the last single-track line in Catalonia. This means that when there is a breakdown anywhere along the route, trains cannot overtake, affecting the entire service.

Today it has started the biggest service cut in the history of Cercanías, which has been planned for the R3 (the line from Hospitalet de Llobregat to the Tour de Carol).

The massive closure of commuter service on the R3 line, which will disrupt service for 16 months, has already begun. For now, the first phase of the operation began this Tuesday, which will mean no trains will run between La Garriga and Montcada Bifurcació station until at least May 2026. Renfe and Adif launched today the alternative transport plan, with buses, which both companies assumed would make journeys 20 to 30 minutes longer than usual. But so far, this has not been the case. Irina, a university student, is "more than delighted" with the implementation of direct buses at Fabra i Puig station: "The journey is even shorter than with the train; I think it's a convenient alternative while the construction work is underway."

Patience will be the best ally for users of the R3 commuter trains in the next 16 months, the deadline that Renfe and Adif have set for completing the infrastructure improvement works and the extension of the last remaining single-track line. The works, budgeted at 210 million euros, will cause inconveniences due to service interruptions and the need to combine trains and buses to cover the section between L'Hospitalet de Llobregat and Puigcerdà and the Tor de Querol. The impact will begin on Saturday, October 4, and will continue, if all goes well and the planned schedule is met, until January 2027. To prevent the journeys from becoming even more of a daily nightmare for the more than 20,000 affected commuters, buses will be running to cover the cancelled sections, and also...

Renfe and the government have again flatly rejected the third alternative plan put forward today by train user platforms to make up for the lack of trains on the R3 line during the upcoming expansion works, which will last sixteen months. This Wednesday, to guarantee road mobility while the track work continues, the government and the operator agreed on a new bus offer, this time halfway between the one they announced with great fanfare at the beginning of June and the halved version that Renfe unilaterally decided to bid for at the end of June.

The controversy surrounding the R3 continues unabated. And it's not because of the 16 months of road closures for the widening works, but because of the alternative road plan that is to replace the train service during that time. On June 11, it was announced that it would be An "unprecedented" investment of 68 million euros to set up a system of more than 100 buses that would operate every day of the week with the main exchange headquarters in Centelles. This plan received praise from both the municipalities and the Generalitat (Generalitat), and even from user platforms, but the joy was short-lived.

New controversy surrounding the R3 works between Renfe and the Generalitat. Three weeks after presenting a A historic sixteen-month cut-off due to construction work on the R3 highway and an "unprecedented" alternative plan to mitigate its effectsNow Renfe has reversed itself and decided, unilaterally, to change its plans.: Renfe Viajeros has halted the tender for the announced alternative plan and has made another, substantially larger cut.

Of a great work, that of Wheel of Berà, to another: the R3 commuter line. The Catalan rail network remains immersed in its own whirlwind of improvement works, and after many delays, it's now the turn of the R3, one of the most battered lines (from Hospitalet to Puigcerdà) in Catalonia. A date has been set: the doubling works will resume on September 27 and will last 16 months. During this time, train traffic will be completely cut off between Montcada Bifurcació and La Garriga, and it will become the largest rail traffic disruption ever in the country.

Exactly 45 years ago, the project to widen the R3 line, the commuter rail line that connects L'Hospitalet de Llobregat with Puigcerdà, passing through Vic, was first discussed. Since then, postponements to the widening project have been the headlines. And now it's happening again. The Ministry of Transport and Adif have decided that the work to double the track between Parets and La Garriga, which was scheduled to resume after Sant Joan, will be postponed again for at least three more months, until September. This has been announced by The Vanguard And this has been confirmed to ARA by spokespersons for Adif, the infrastructure manager.