The issue of reserved seats on the train, for pregnant women, the elderly, parents with a baby, or people with mobility difficulties, is not binding. It is recommended that these seats be yielded, but it is not mandatory. I am at a very delicate moment in my life: if they offer me one, I get annoyed; and if they don't, I also get annoyed.

The L9 tunnel boring machine is no longer the only one inhabiting the subsoil of Barcelona. The great machine that is to build the L8 tunnel for the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat is already assembled and ready to start operating, starting next week. This was confirmed today by the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, during a site visit to the attack shaft of this infrastructure, which is located on the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, next to Plaça Espanya. The new tunnel boring machine, however, will not face the longest section of the tunnel, from Plaça Espanya to Gràcia, until February.

Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat is a brand associated with good service: generally punctual, clean, modern, with constant maintenance of the trains, tracks, and stations thanks to a sustained budgetary investment regardless of the party that has governed the Generalitat. In FGC facilities, you are in Denmark for a while.Now turn everything I have written upside down to describe the mockery of a service into which the constant lack of investment by Spanish governments, with their delusions of grandeur regarding high-speed rail (which they now do not know how they will maintain either), and the managerial incompetence of Renfe and Adif have turned Rodalies. It is true that the FGC network has four times fewer kilometers than the Rodalies network, but this makes the state in which the State's trains operate—when they do operate—in our country even more painful.Under these circumstances, the unification of the brands is the least of the problems that train users have, and rather what it would be about is converting the railway service in our country into something as similar as possible to what FGC currently offers. It would be very sad if the FGC brand had to carry the pathetic image of Rodalies.And, by the way, if the Generalitat is worried about the logos that our trains must carry in the future, it should start by ensuring the custody of the new trains that will arrive now, because if they end up like the current ones, scribbled on and dirtied by graffiti artists, neither the brand nor the logo of the parent brand that they are currently commissioning will be seen.

The Catalan Railways (FGC) transported over one hundred million passengers last year, a record figure, with a punctuality rate exceeding 99% on all lines and overall user satisfaction. Anyone who doubts these figures need only ask the passengers. They'll surely tell you that the lines connecting Sabadell and Terrassa with Barcelona, ​​and vice versa (60,000 people commute to work in Sant Cugat every day, though not all by train), are packed early in the morning, and that beyond Sant Cugat, it's a real squeeze to board the carriages, but that the service is exceptionally punctual. For all these reasons, I listened with interest to the arguments given by José Javier Bleda, the regional railway secretary for the Semaf union, to justify the strike that began yesterday and will continue next week. In an interview on Radio 4, Mr. Bleda spoke of "latent risks," such as "in certain areas of the network, trains begin to skid, preventing the driver from braking where they want"; that, ultimately, "many general issues have specific underlying problems"; that they have been reporting everything; that the reports have been ignored; and that patience has its limits.

Nine Tuesdays of difficulties in rail mobility, this time also affecting Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC). The Catalan train operator faces the first of the five days of strikewhich has called on the Semaf union to strike on February 24th and 25th and March 2nd, 3rd, and 4th to demand greater safety on the service.

Today I plan to go to Basel by train. What else can I do on the train but write about the structural absurdity of the situation with Adif, Renfe, and Cercanías (commuter rail) in Catalonia?

With many schools celebrating their holidays, this Friday marks the start of one of the long weekends circled in red on the calendars of all Catalan ski resorts. The recent snowfall and low temperatures will encourage skiers to flock to the Immaculate Conception holiday, especially after the Immaculate Conception. Those who remember that a year ago the slopes could not open due to lack of snowWith all the resorts open, the sector is preparing to regain momentum and kick off what is expected to be a long winter season with good forecasts. This is the feeling at the Masella resort, the first to open its slopes in the entire country, on November 26th, with almost all of its 36 kilometers already operational. With the exception of last year, this resort has started the winter season in November in 80% of years, thanks in large part to the investments made in snowmaking. "We've had plenty of time to prepare," explains spokesperson Ramon Boter. Families who can will start arriving this Friday, but for many, Saturday and Sunday will be the peak days, with the return trip expected on Monday.

"There's no need to deceive ourselves. Cercanías is the largest and oldest rail network. Ferrocarrils is, along with Cercanías, a toy network, if you'll pardon the expression." With these words, he disparaged the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, of the Catalan Railways (FGC) during his appearance this Wednesday in Congress to discuss the incidents that affect some part of the country day after day. The latest, a technical failure at Adif last week that paralyzed the long-distance service between Madrid and Andalusia.

In summer, many people look to the sky to see if it will be sunny and decide whether or not to go to the beach, but others prefer to look much further afield. Astronomy enthusiasts, or those simply curious, can continue to enjoy observing planets and stars during these days in an ideal space: the Montsec Astronomical Park (PAM), in Àger (La Noguera).

For years, the Catalan Railways (FGC) has been committed to promoting modal interchange when using public transport, facilitating the combined use of different modes of transport on a single journey.

The works on the L8 of the Generalitat Railways are preparing for a new phase: the arrival of the Tunnel boring machine that will drill through Barcelona from Plaza Espanya to the Gràcia neighborhood, next year. To introduce this large cutting machine underground, it is obviously necessary to make a hole through which the pieces will be lowered into the subsoil, the machine will be assembled, and drilling will begin. This attack shaft will be located on Gran Via, next to Plaça Espanya, between Llança and Vilamarí streets. It will run 20 meters underground but will nevertheless be very visible to residents because the hole doesn't reach it alone.