More than a million people affected and 90,000 minutes lost: commuter train delays until June

Delays on commuter trains are, sadly, part of everyday life for many Catalans who use public transport to get to work. The historic lack of investment in the lines, coupled with the effects of the construction works now being carried out simultaneously in many parts of the country to update the network, have meant that in 2025 the number of notable incidents on the commuter network has become a constant headache for commuters and also a source of political confrontation.

Now, however, this accumulation of incidents has been reflected in figures: in the first six months of the year, "notable" incidents on commuter trains have caused 1,500 hours of delays, or 90,013 minutes of accumulated delay in traffic. According to data published in a parliamentary response by Territori to a question from ERC and collected by ACN, up to 1,155,230 passengers have been affected by service disruptions on the Barcelona commuter train lines and regional lines across the country operated by Renfe. In fact, it is estimated that in the first half of the year there have been a total of 175 severe service disruptions, practically one every day.

The line that has accumulated the most problems has been the R15, which runs from Barcelona to Ribarroja de Ebro, passing through Tarragona and Reus. This line has recorded incidents six out of every ten days and on some days has accumulated more than one. Lines R14 and R16 have also been particularly affected by incidents.

6,000 trains with incidents

In total, between January 1 and June 30, incidents were recorded on 115 different days, meaning that two out of every three days there was some "significant" problem with train traffic in Catalonia. The most complicated month for the commuter rail network was February, when significant incidents were recorded practically every day (on 23 of the 28 days of the month). In contrast, the day with the most affected passengers was April 28, the day of the general blackout. During that day, 258,420 passengers and 945 trains were affected. Total delays were 45 hours in a day and a half.

The count made public in Parliament also calculated that in the first six months of 2025, almost 6,000 trains (5,779) suffered some kind of incident. If we focus on the Barcelona commuter rail lines—R1, R2, R3, R4, R7, and R8—they are the most affected, as they are also the ones with the most passengers. These six lines accounted for 60% of the passengers affected by delays, with a total of 704,492 affected passengers.

Regarding breakdowns, the regional lines have been the most affected. Lines R11, R13, R14, R15, R16, and R17 accounted for 82% of the reported breakdowns.