Cercanías suspends all service due to network instability

BarcelonaThe commuter rail network has again suspended all service in Catalonia this Tuesday due to "unstable voltage in the electrical grid to ensure traffic." This was announced by the Spanish operator Renfe, the day after the general blackout that yesterday left Catalonia, the rest of Spain, and Portugal without power for more than 12 hours in some places.

"We have worked all night to restore the commuter rail service, but the electrical instability does not allow us to provide service safely," stated the director of the commuter rail network, Antonio Carmona, amid the turmoil that the Sants station concourse has become from early morning. "When some trains began to be tested, it was discovered that electrical stability could not be guaranteed, and we have decided to suspend service completely to avoid situations with trains stopped during the project," he explained. For now, the commuter rail network has no forecast of when it will be able to resume service, nor can it offer alternative services for users who need to travel.

High-speed trains along the Mediterranean corridor and those in the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula will also be closed. However, the high-speed service connecting Barcelona with Madrid and those to Figueres have been launched.

Impact on passengers

Initially, early Tuesday morning, Renfe announced that it had been able to restore commuter train service and that service would be at a minimum of 60% on most lines, albeit with delays. This has led many commuters to hope they could take the train to work, only to find that this option was not available upon arrival at the station. Crowding, complaints, and protests over the lack of information have been repeated at Sants—one of the largest stations in Catalonia.

Yesterday, many people stayed overnight in the concourse. This was one of the options the company offered to passengers who had been unable to travel, allowing them to wait until the next day. The blackout also caused dozens of moving trains across the state to remain stationary, without power and with passengers still inside. At midnight, some trains still remained. convoys with stranded travelersMany had to walk along the tracks in the dark, with the only light coming from their cell phone flashlights.

This morning, with the commuter trains shut down, they found that the only alternative for transportation was, well, buses. This has led to the same scene being repeated throughout Catalonia: very long lines of commuter train passengers looking for a seat on the bus to reach their destination. In Granollers, for example, many users walked from the train station to the bus station (a 10-minute walk away).

Once there, they found the lines stretched for over an hour. Furthermore, they had to pay in cash, and most people only had their commuter train ticket or card on them:

Sources from the bus company's staff assure that the Generalitat (Catalan government) has asked them to expand the fleet of vehicles for today, but they insist they will only be able to do so when the school bus schedule ends, due to a lack of material, that is, of available buses.

Normalcy on the metro, the TRAM, the FGC (trains), and on the roads

For its part, the Catalan Railways (FGC) and the metro have resumed normal service this Tuesday, as explained this morning by the Catalan operator and TMB. The TRAM has reported that service on lines T1, T2, and T3 is operating normally, while on lines T4, T5, and T6 it has been restored, but frequencies have been altered.

On the roads, the Catalan Traffic Service reports that the situation on the Catalan road network is normal. Rush hour is currently beginning, and the usual traffic jams are beginning to occur at the entrances to Barcelona, ​​​​mainly on the C-58, A-2, and B-23 motorways entering the Catalan capital and on the Litoral and Dalt ring roads. Traffic has also reopened and returned to normal on the A-27 between Montblanc and Valls.