Test trips begin on the R2 once the Montcada collapse is covered

BarcelonaThree days after the collapse that on Wednesday swallowed a crane at the R2 line's underground works, Adif and Renfe have announced key steps to restore traffic on the affected tracks, but without yet specifying when the R2, R2 Nord, and R11 will return to normal operation. This Saturday at noon, Adif declared the sinkhole repaired after finishing filling the hole that opened on the border between Barcelona and Montcada i Reixac with concrete. Once all safety checks were completed, Renfe began conducting empty test runs, with empty trains, before restoring service.

The tests will last for several hours, with journeys between Sant Andreu Comtal and Montcada i Reixac stations. These checks are the last step before restoring the rail service, which has been interrupted since Wednesday.

However, at this time, the exact date when the three lines affected by this week's collapse – the R2, R2 Nord, and R11 – will be able to resume operation has not been confirmed. This Saturday morning, the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, stated that she expects traffic on the affected lines to resume from next week. Even before Adif's announcement, Paneque explained that once the company finished filling the sinkhole, the test runs would begin, and she predicted that "in all probability" the service would normalize next week.

Adif also assured that the monitoring carried out on the railway infrastructure and the closest homes to the sinkhole that opened on Wednesday confirm that "no movement or alteration of the ground has occurred, neither on the trackbed nor in the building structures."

17 meters deep

In the statement issued this Saturday, Adif specifies that the ground subsidence reached a depth of seventeen meters and a diameter of nineteen meters. The sinkhole opened next to the shaft built to start a tunnel. The soil drag swallowed heavy machinery, including a large crane, which has been buried under the 1,930 cubic meters of concrete with which they have covered the sinkhole.

In addition to the impact on these three lines due to the sinkhole in the works, this Saturday traffic is also suspended on line R3. In this case, due to an incident in the railway traffic regulation system.