The Catalan government expects to restore "normal" service on commuter trains starting Monday.

BarcelonaCommuter rail service resumed on Tuesday after seven days of unprecedented chaos that culminated on Monday with two dismissals at Renfe and Adif. However, it is operating at reduced capacity, with numerous line and section closures and up to ten alternative bus services. Nevertheless, the situation is better than on Monday, when a computer system error caused by new software being tested by Adif at night brought down the centralized traffic control (CTC) and blocked the network twice. According to the Minister of Territory and spokesperson for the Balearic Government, Sílvia Paneque, service will not return to "normal" until next Monday. This will occur without alternative services on the vast majority of lines, once the inspections and emergency repairs following the fatal accident in Gelida are completed. Service will gradually resume over the weekend on the sections under evaluation, and Adif is currently working at 30 locations where incidents have been detected. Despite the restoration of service to "normal" on Monday, disruptions will continue on the R3 line, due to work carried out before the accident, and on the R4 line, following the collapse of the wall in Gelida. Furthermore, Renfe and Adif are still working to reopen the sections closed after Monday's double technical failure. The president of Adif, Luis Pedro Marco de la Peña, confirmed this morning that it was not due to any "sabotage or cyberattack," but rather to an error in a new "state-of-the-art" software, which they confirmed with the supplier. He also guaranteed that the problem has already been resolved. This new software is being tested at night on the R1 line, which means that in some sections, the old signaling system is in use during the day, and the new one is tested at night. De la Peña explained that a centralized traffic control (CTC) operator checked on Monday morning and found the nighttime test system was off, but the program gave him "options" it shouldn't have. According to the president of Adif, this caused the system to receive commands from both the old and new software, triggering a safety shutdown. On Tuesday, trains on the busiest lines combined rail service with sections operated solely by road, using a fleet of 146 buses. On the R1 line, for example, an alternative service was provided between Arenys and Maçanet, while on the R4 line, the same occurred between Sant Sadurní d'Anoia and Martorell Central, and between Terrassa and Estació del Nord - Manresa. Trains, however, are running along the entire length of the R2 line, both north and south. Renfe spokesperson Antonio Carmona defended the current service, stating it is sufficient "to guarantee mobility for those who wish to use Cercanías commuter rail," and assured that the goal is "to regain passenger confidence" as soon as possible. Those who opted for high-speed rail also experienced a difficult morning, with trains accumulating delays of over an hour. Renfe sources admitted that Adif's speed restrictions—following the fatal accident in Adamuz—affect all operators and also impact driver schedules, causing delays due to driver changes. All of this has been enough to prompt a dozen train user groups, including the Association for the Promotion of Public Transport (PTP) and Dignity on the Tracks, to file a complaint. They have called for a demonstration in Barcelona on February 7th..

Margin for "improvement"

This incident once again called into question the ability of Renfe, Adif, the Spanish government, and the Catalan government to guarantee commuter rail service. In this context, the Catalan government is committed to working with all parties to accelerate the implementation of the emergency plan to improve information for users and to be on top of the Transport Ministry to ensure that the resources are used which she has promised to inject into the network. At a press conference this Tuesday, Paneque declined to comment on the dismissals of the Cercanías (commuter rail) operations director, Josep Enric Garcia Alemany, and the Adif (Spanish rail infrastructure manager) operations director, Raúl Míguez Bailo, a decision she maintains was not agreed upon with the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente. "We have conveyed that everyone must assume their responsibility, in whatever way they deem appropriate," the regional minister stated. And among these solutions, she added, is not taking Renfe (the Spanish national railway company) and Adif to court, as Junts (a left-wing coalition) has requested. "It solves nothing," she asserted.

Despite calls for resignation from the oppositionThe government also rejects the notion that the mobility crisis in the country should lead to the Generalitat assuming responsibility. Paneque has closed ranks with her team, "absolutely" ruling out any resignations within the Department of Territory, starting with her own, although she admits there is room for "improvement" in some areas, such as the information available. In any case, she insisted that the Generalitat is supporting and "monitoring" Renfe's work in this regard, but that responsibility in this area also lies with the operator.

Free

A week later, the Catalan government (Generalitat) is beginning to quantify the cost of the exceptional measures implemented to facilitate mobility during the country's transportation crisis. Specifically, lifting the toll on the C-32 after the closure of the AP-7 has cost €600,000 per day. To that amount must be added the €1 million spent on the initial bus deployment to reinforce intercity routes, according to Paneque. The regional minister confirmed that, once the crisis is over, they will meet with the Ministry of Transport to finalize the accounts regarding alternative transportation plans. "There are issues that fall under the Ministry's responsibility; we will have to negotiate with them," she warned. Furthermore, for one month, to compensate for the inconvenience, commuter, regional, and medium-distance train passes are free. Free tickets can be obtained at station ticket offices or vending machines, although on the ground – despite the 700 information officers deployed for the resumption of service – not everyone seems to be aware of this, as ARA has observed.