Fatal accidents. Landslides. Sinking structures. Questionable maintenance. Lack of investment. Mutinous train drivers. These are just some of the issues that have characterized this tragic week on the Catalan rail network, which ends with a fatal accident in Gelida (preceded by another in Córdoba), three landslides, the collapse of two retaining walls (in Gelida and Pineda), and dozens of minor breakdowns. This unfortunate series of events has led the Generalitat – the body responsible for the service – to announce another shutdown of the entire system this Saturday morning. This has left Catalonia without rail service.More than 1,400 kilometers of track, but no trains.

There are up to 308 public schools in Barcelona. They are located in historic buildings, renovated blocks of flats, or even newly built properties, in almost brand-new spaces. This means that each school can have very different maintenance needs and schedules, especially considering that these are spaces where hundreds of people spend hours together every day.

In June, it took its toll on Barcelona's kindergartens: faults in the air conditioning systems have multiplied the effects of the heat in the classrooms, where in many cases temperatures reached almost thirty degrees. The inability to respond to this problem, beyond distributing penguins—portable air conditioners—to the affected centers, has forced the City Council to process an emergency plan to address it.