Objective: to revive commuter rail, fewer grandiose projects and more maintenance and capacity

BarcelonaTwo weeks of unprecedented rail chaos and the Catalan rail network is still operating at half capacity, with many sections shut down and undergoing safety inspections. Now that the initial shock has subsided, the question is: How will this mess be fixed? No one doubts that it will take many years (and many millions) to bring the network up to date. But just as important as the injection of funds and the renovation work is improving organization, coordination, and integrating climate change into future planning.

This week, the Spanish and Catalan governments have rushed to update The commuter rail plan already needs more fundingCercanías now has 4.386 billion euros for the next four years.after the extra 1.7 billionannounced on Monday by the Secretary of State for Transport, José Antonio Santano, the plan is expected to raise total investment for this decade to €8 billion. A significant portion of that money, €1.34 billion, will be allocated to... Maintenance – the big question these days– and the renovation of older infrastructure to improve its reliability. This is "double" what was allocated in the last five years, said the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque.

Now it remains to be seen whether the budget will be implemented, that is, whether all the millions that have been allocated will actually be spent. This is a more than reasonable doubt considering that between 2010 and 2023 – a period encompassing governments of both the PP and the PSOE – Only one out of every two euros budgeted was investedOf the €9.864 billion budgeted, Adif only spent €4.792 billion, or 48.6%. The remaining €5 billion went unused. Given this situation, the ARA (Spanish Rail Network Advisory Committee) met again this week with experts from the sector and the public administration to determine whether or not a solution for this degraded network is realistic.

The goal: to revive commuter rail

Workers are still working to repair around thirty critical points in the network. This work is in addition to... all the works that were already underway by that year. Is it realistic, then, to think that the Cercanías commuter rail system is a patient that can be saved? The experts consulted agree that it is, but with a long list of urgent changes. "It's realistic as long as the renovation is aligned with the timeframe that would allow it," explains Daniel Albalate, a professor at the University of Barcelona and infrastructure expert, who has also worked in public administration and currently directs the Observatory for Analysis and Evaluation of Public Policies at the University of Barcelona. "Is it realistic to think that in two or three years the network will function correctly? No. But it is realistic to think about it in the long term," he explains.

Juan Carlos Salmerón, director of the Terminus Center for Transport Studies, mentally structures a "short, medium, and long-term" plan and uses Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) as an example: "When they were created in 1979, the lines were in a state very similar to the Cercanías commuter rail network, and a completely scaled-down plan was drawn up; they continued with smaller investments and a team dedicated to day-to-day breakdowns," Salmerón explains. "There's no other option," resigns Arnau Comajoan, a civil engineer and board member of the Public Transport Promotion Association (PTP). "What has happened must be a turning point: we have to do everything possible, plan better, streamline procedures, and change structures and processes from within, especially at Adif," he enumerates.

Comajoan focuses heavily on the operation of the infrastructure manager. "Adif should have its own resources and capabilities as a matter of routine, instead of outsourcing. If it weren't necessary to tender external companies, that would already save a lot of paperwork and we would gain in agility and also in money, due to the margins involved in outsourcing," he argues.

The priorities: safety, increased capacity, and governance.

The priorities: safety, increased capacity, and governance

So where do we begin to organize this mess? More construction? Fewer projects? Which ones are priorities? "As of today, the Catalan rail network is already quite complete: more than expansions or grandiose projects, what it needs are measures that give it resilience and more connections," says Salmerón, who believes that the works planned in the commuter rail plan cannot ignore "the most urgent issue: the current problems on the lines." The director of Terminus doesn't point to any particular line as a priority; on the contrary: "The entire network is very weak. We have to act across the whole region, from Puigcerdà to Tortosa."

For the PTP, the solution is similar: more and better maintenance and carrying out the pending works to achieve "greater capacity." "In an ideal situation, with no pending projects, the pace of work this week, which they've really stepped up, should be the usual one: Adif shouldn't stop, they shouldn't go back to the previous pace," summarizes Comajoan, who advocates for "constantly identifying and monitoring" these smaller but urgent risks without losing sight of the major changes. He does identify priority sections, such as the doubling works on the R3 line, protecting the R1 line from the sea, and the Garraf tunnels on the R2 line. "They are too narrow and must be wider, according to regulations, and Adif's initial solution is to widen them," explains Comajoan. The PTP (Platform of Transport Workers) questions whether it would be better to build a new tunnel on the inland side. "If we're going to do a major project, let's do it right, make it new, with safety standards, and further from the sea," they point out.

Albalate, for his part, emphasizes an aspect that has already been addressed: governance. "Bringing decision-making closer to the local level is fundamental for me. Managing the commuter rail network from 600 kilometers away, with priorities set according to Spanish railway policy, is largely what has led us to this disaster," he states. "I am convinced that if the network and the funding had been more readily available to the Generalitat (the regional government), there wouldn't be absolute power over the infrastructure. This is the root of the problem: prioritizing the commuter rail network and preventing everything from remaining just empty promises," underlines this expert in public administration, who agrees with the other experts on two key points: first, that "all the resources that Adif has now urgently allocated should be consolidated and made structural." "Adif cannot treat the commuter rail network the same as other parts of the infrastructure in Spain due to its obsolescence and the intensive use it receives," he argues. And the second point is that, in the short term, priority must be given to those commuter rail projects that will increase the system's capacity, such as the doubling of the R3 line, on which all three experts agree.

What "not" should be done (and what should)

Rethinking the system isn't easy, but there's one point on which the three experts clearly agree: what "shouldn't" be done, and which, in fact, is what's being done now. Salmerón and Comajoan describe as "absurd" and "foolish" the push through of certain projects announced as "key" but which, in their opinion, don't improve the system's capacity, despite costing millions. They're referring to the undergrounding projects in Moncada and Sant Feliu, and the Figueres bypass. "Ultimately, these are primarily urban improvement projects that, far from increasing capacity, could even complicate traffic flow further with trains constantly getting on and off," says the PTP engineer. "These three projects alone, which don't improve operations, already total 1.3 billion euros, the same amount they want to allocate to network maintenance and replacement," criticizes Salmerón. “It’s absurd to keep proposing these colossal projects at this point,” Comajoan agrees. “They absolutely shouldn’t be the priority of a plan whose aim is simply to make the network work well.” Albalate sums it up this way: “First, ensure reliability, and then there will be time to think about new infrastructure. And be careful about injecting huge amounts of money, because [so many projects] can lead to paralysis, due to bureaucracy and regulations that prevent them from being implemented quickly,” he reflects.

Having identified what "not" to do, the experts instead list aspects that should be anticipated. "The upcoming storms, for example, are already forecast; we know they're coming, and we must avoid at all costs having them completely shut down the service again next spring or winter," insists Salmerón. For the PTP, the order of priorities would be "doubling the R2 line and quadrupling the Prat-Castelldefels section." "And stop spending on projects that have nothing to do with improving the system, such as underground tracks," says Comajoan. "There are alternatives, like underpasses. That's how they do it in other countries richer than us, where the rail system works better." This association also advocates for "a profound change at Adif." "Let's see if the Generalitat, after the transfer of power, can introduce a different way of working," hopes Comajoan.

How to accelerate improvements

Beyond injecting money, planning better, coordinating differently, and prioritizing safety and capacity, it's necessary to rethink how to move forward without getting bogged down in bureaucracy. The rail network plays an essential role at a time of significant population growth and high demand for public transport. "As a society, just as we demand improvements in education and healthcare, we should demand improvements to public transport so that mobility is a right on par with others. The network needs to be modernized and defended," Salmerón emphasizes.

Doing everything from scratch at once is "unmanageable," admits Comajoan of the PTP, which is why he says that "what's needed is to avoid further blunders." "We need to consider a cost-benefit analysis for each project and see if it's truly necessary and what the best approach is," he adds. Albalate agrees. "We always think that [changing everything at some of the most critical points] will be very expensive and complicated, but nobody tells us what the cost is if we don't do it and just keep patching things up," he reflects. "Moving the entire R1 through the center of town, I don't think it will ever happen, but, on the other hand, there are several points where they can be rolled back."

Regarding "time" and reducing bureaucracy, Albalate and Comajoan have several proposals. "In the case of commuter rail, perhaps a special process should be established to accelerate improvements. It would be good if the Generalitat (Catalan government) studied whether this is feasible to minimize delays," suggests Albalate. Comajoan, from the PTP (Platform for Transport Planning), also has suggestions for trying to alleviate the paperwork: "The tender for the feasibility study and the project could be done together; it's something FGC (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya) has done before. Not being an adversary would also be very important," he says ironically. "Sometimes the Ministry of Transport makes such restrictive interpretations of the railway sector law." Thirdly, he insists, giving Adif (Spain's railway infrastructure manager) its own resources would also be key to taking on tasks without outsourcing. "Adif has about 13,000 employees, more or less the same as the Belgian operator, which has a network three times smaller and doesn't even manage the stations." Salmerón is more practical. "When pressured, the administration is capable of reacting. That's why society must pressure and demand that these projects be unblocked. When they [the administration] have wanted to, they have done so," he concludes.