For over a week now, the intercity bus stop on Gran Via, located between Aribau and Muntaner streets, has been teeming with activity. From six in the evening onwards, it becomes an unstoppable hive of activity: buses double-parked, horns blaring, and passengers rushing from work to get home to the various towns in the Garraf region, where these buses serve. Where three buses used to stop, up to six now stop—double the usual number. The reason? Once again, the economic crisis and the commuter rail construction.

Transforming the H12 bus line, which runs horizontally across Barcelona along Gran Via, into a line with virtually "metro-like frequency" is the next objective of Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB). The company has implemented a novel solution for the city: starting January 26, the H12 will receive a special reinforcement of eight additional buses on the central section of the line, between Plaça de les Glòries and Plaça Cerdà. "This is the part of the route with the highest demand," according to sources at the operator. This is one of the main measures included in the new Bus Agenda 2026-2030, which TMB presented this Thursday morning, and the one that will be implemented most quickly, within 15 days. This injection of buses on the central section of the line will reduce the frequency from the current 8 minutes to "5 minutes or less" and increase passenger capacity by 15%. Furthermore, the fact that there are more trains covering the same route and stops, but only on a specific section of the line, opens the door for TMB to consider other, more targeted improvements at the beginning and end, such as the line (which actually starts in Gornal and runs to Besòs Verneda) having double trains at more stations.

Last June, the project was unblocked, and this Thursday the financing agreement was signed, but the undergrounding of the Gran Via in Hospitalet de Llobregat, between the Rambla Marina and the Llobregat River, will not begin until early 2027. This represents a further delay of several months compared to the initial date. In June, it was announced that the works would begin in the second half of 2026. The new timeline was confirmed by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, during the signing ceremony of the financing agreement. "We have to be prudent when we talk about timelines," he admitted just before explaining that "the undergrounding should physically begin in 2027 and should be completed in 2031." At the event, Illa and the Mayor of L'Hospitalet, David Quirós, signed the agreement that will secure the funding for the project. As agreed last JuneThe Catalan government has committed to advancing the nearly €40 million that corresponds to the L'Hospitalet City Council to undertake the works—in addition to its own €28.4 million contribution—which the council can later repay in the form of plots of land resulting from the undergrounding project. The remainder of the total €130 million cost of the project will be provided by the private property owners affected by the redevelopment, who are members of the Consortium for the Renovation of the Gran Via de Hospitalet. The mayor of L'Hospitalet thanked the Catalan government for its "commitment" to the residents and noted that the agreement to guarantee the funding is "a turning point" because it "provides a legal framework and a timeline for carrying out a project that the city has been waiting for for decades." "The Gran Via has been a boundary for far too long, and the undergrounding project is a unique opportunity to reconnect the neighborhoods and define the metropolitan heart of southern Barcelona," Quirós emphasized. For his part, Illa emphasized that, once the undergrounding works are completed, what he called "the metropolitan pentagon of prosperity" will be finished. This pentagon comprises Barcelona's airport and port, the Zona Franca industrial park, Fira de Barcelona trade fair center, and, finally, the BioCluster for Innovation and Health. The goal of the undergrounding project is to free up more land to develop the Biopol Gran Via Urban Master Plan, a "strategic" project for Catalonia, according to the authorities. This plan aims to connect both sides of this major traffic artery, transforming the area into one of the most important economic, research, and innovation hubs in southern Europe. Thus, covering this road will allow residents to walk to important healthcare centers such as Bellvitge University Hospital, the Catalan Institute of Oncology - Duran i Reynals Hospital, the Idibell research institute, and the University of Barcelona, ​​concentrating a whole ecosystem of companies and research and training centers within a short distance. The government estimates that, once operational, the biocluster, together with the port, airport, Free Trade Zone, and Fira, will create up to 50,000 jobs and generate over €7 billion in revenue.

The burying of the Gran Via, as it passes through L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, takes another step forward. The construction project was approved five years ago And work was due to begin imminently the following year, in 2021, but it wasn't until this Monday morning that the project was unblocked. The Generalitat (Catalan Government) and the Hospitalet City Council have reached an agreement to begin repairing this section of land between the Rambla Marina and the Llobregat River. If all goes well, the new schedule indicates that work will finally begin during the second half of next year. This is a significant project, both in terms of its economic volume and its social impact, as it aims to transform the entire Bellvitge Hospital area into the largest biomedical hub in southern Europe.