Puente indefinitely relocates his number two to Barcelona due to the commuter rail crisis
Secretary of State José Antonio Santano will be stationed at the Spanish Government Delegation without a return date.
BarcelonaCoinciding with a Another day of disruption to the commuter rail serviceSecretary of State José Antonio Santano has announced that he will travel to Barcelona to personally oversee the management of the rail problems in Catalonia and ensure the service is restored as soon as possible. Santano arrives this Monday without a return ticket, intending to remain in the Catalan capital until service is fully restored, according to sources at the Ministry of Transport, who emphasize that this proximity should also facilitate direct communication with the Catalan government. Santano's office will be located in the Spanish Government Delegation in Catalonia, the same place where his predecessor, Víctor Morlán, set up shop in 2007, on the eve of the AVE high-speed train's arrival in Barcelona, and amidst another commuter rail crisis.
The announcement, agreed upon with the Catalan government, came just minutes after the Minister of Transport, Sílvia Paneque, demanded that the deputy to Minister Óscar Puente be stationed in Catalonia to resolve the commuter rail debacle. Despite being the service's owner, the Catalan government has demonstrated in recent weeks that it lacks control, as the operators, Renfe and Adif, have frequently acted independently of the instructions from the Ministry of Territory. The government of Salvador Illa—who is still recovering from an illness—already took a stand last week and demanded dismissals.Letters arrived from the operational director of Cercanías and the operations director of Adif.—and now it is he who has demanded Santano's presence on the ground.
The final straw was the latest episode of miscommunication between the operator and the Catalan government: if last week the Minister of Territory and spokesperson for the Catalan Government, Sílvia Paneque, announced that this Monday "Normalcy" would be restoredWith service now suspended, reality once again contradicted the words of the top official in charge in Catalonia. At a press conference this Tuesday, Paneque said that they had placed a "vote of confidence" in Renfe, Adif, and the Ministry of Transport when they provided this information, but that the situation could not continue. sine die"This situation cannot be allowed to continue any longer," the regional minister exclaimed. For now, Santano's presence in Catalonia will be sufficient to meet the Catalan government's demands in the short term. Paneque excused the absence of the national minister, Óscar Puente, arguing that he has "commitments" in Madrid, with appearances scheduled to explain the accident in Adamuz.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday the Catalan government approved the emergency contracting of 230 buses to reinforce intercity road transport – at a cost of €4,147,088 – and minimize the impact on travel. It has also opened an investigation into Adif (the Spanish railway infrastructure manager). due to the software failure in traffic control that caused the service to stop last weekSomething that happened again this Tuesday (another investigation was opened against Renfe last week).
"A deplorable state"
Despite raising his voice, Paneque wanted to show he was aware of the circumstances that, in his opinion, are hindering the resumption of service. He mentioned "the mood of the train drivers" after the accidents in Gelida and Adamuz, but also the poor state of the infrastructure as a result of decades of underinvestment, which the Catalan government identified as the primary cause of the railway dysfunctions since the beginning of the crisis. "We found the commuter rail service in a deplorable state, much worse than we could have imagined," Paneque said. The Catalan government maintains that it is working with parliamentary groups, civil society, and the railway sector to promote the "country pact" that the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, offered to the opposition in Parliament.
Beyond the political squabble, is there a date for restoring normal service? The Generalitat (Catalan government) is no longer setting a date and is simply demanding that the work to resolve the critical points on the network be accelerated. "As we receive reliable information about the openings, we will communicate it. What we have asked and demanded of Renfe, the Ministry, and Adif (the Spanish railway infrastructure manager) is that the resumption be as soon as possible, with the safety standards we want," Paneque emphasized, no longer even referring to the service as "normal."
After all parties except Comuns called for her resignation last week, the regional minister said she is working tirelessly "day and night" to resolve the crisis and has ruled out relinquishing any of the other portfolios under her purview, such as housing, in order to focus on the trains. Following the same line as ERC, he has advocated accelerating the transfer to improve the service, now that the CEO of the joint venture, Óscar Playà, He will also lead Renfe's operations in Catalonia. "Many things have become clear these past few days, and one of them is that the transfer is necessary," Paneque said. The commitment to take over the management of the R1 line this year remains.