Fright in Trinitat Vella due to Adif works: "Everything was moving like in a small earthquake"

BarcelonaA new scare related to railway works has caused the precautionary evacuation of about eighty residents of Trinitat Vella, in Barcelona, as reported by La Vanguardia and confirmed by ARA. According to municipal sources, shortly after 3:30 AM this morning, residents of three buildings located at numbers 75-103 of Pérez del Pulgar street, near the area of the collapse in Montcada i Reixac a few days ago, called 112 after noticing vibrations and movements in the buildings. "Everything was moving as if it were a small earthquake. It wasn't a simple vibration," explains Beni, one of the affected residents, who assures that the episode generated concern among the residents.

Firefighters from Barcelona and the Barcelona Social Emergency and Urgent Care Centre (CUESB) were dispatched to the scene, managing the incident and carrying out the relevant safety checks. Once the inspection was completed, residents were able to return to their homes early in the morning. Technicians did not detect any structural damage, although municipal services are monitoring the situation.

According to Adif sources, the detected vibrations would be related to the works on the Vallbona variant and the Bifurcació Aigües. A compactor had started working this week, but the work had to be stopped due to this morning's incident. The Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Valls, who went to the neighborhood to speak with residents and follow up, emphasized in a statement to the media that the incident "has nothing to do with any tunnel" or with underground work, but rather with machinery working on the surface to compact embankments for the provisional railway diversion.

Valls explained that the machine remains stopped and has called on Adif to rethink the execution of this work so that it has minimal impact on the residents. He also requested "clear" communication with residents before resuming the works and assured that the City Council will continue to monitor the situation and support those affected through the Sant Andreu district.

Adif states that it continues to monitor the situation to resume the works as soon as possible and that it will adopt the necessary measures to "avoid inconvenience to residents".

Demand for explanations

Around the affected blocks, members of the Barcelona Fire Department, the Guàrdia Urbana, and members of the Barcelona City Council's government team are meeting urgently to monitor the incident. A few meters away, residents are also gathering to prepare a press conference scheduled for this Friday, where they will explain the situation they have experienced and convey their demands.

According to Beni, an affected resident, the evacuation was carried out door-to-door in the blocks on Pérez del Pulgar street, although the vibrations were also felt in other buildings in the area. Residents like Raquel regret that, beyond the preventive evacuation, they have not received explanations about the origin of the vibrations and assure that they have been summoned to an informational meeting.

Affected residents also demand better communication and more information about works that, they say, have been affecting the neighborhood's daily life for some time. Some explain that the concern is even greater because several buildings in the sector have previous pathologies and are pending expropriation and rehabilitation. "The wall of the building is leaning one way and the other," says a resident, who assures that the works have aggravated existing problems in her home, previously affected by aluminosis and, in some cases, with shored-up structural elements.

Another resident explains that a door frame has been displaced and that tiles on the floor have started to come loose, although none of those interviewed claim to have detected new cracks or significant damage as a result of this morning's episode.

This is not the first time residents have felt tremors in their homes. A resident, who prefers not to give her name, explains that the renovation works of the old prison in the neighborhood, as part of the Trinitat Nord modernization project, had already forced the construction company to intervene months ago because they were also causing vibrations in the buildings.

Regarding Adif's works, this same resident assures that the disturbances date back to mid-July and shows audios shared in neighborhood WhatsApp groups in which noises and vibrations can be heard inside the homes, which they attribute to the state of the buildings aggravated by the work.

Raquel explains that the impact has been more extensive than initially communicated: although the Guardia Urbana has focused its efforts on numbers 75-103 of Pérez del Pulgar street, she assures that she has also felt tremors at number 22.

For those affected, the priority now is for Adif to inform them in advance of any action that may generate new vibrations and for the City Council to accelerate the rehabilitation of the most deteriorated buildings in the area.