The head of the mixed-ownership commuter rail company will take over the management of Renfe in Catalonia

Renfe's management in Catalonia now has a new head: Òscar Playà, the newly appointed CEO of Cercanías CataluñaThe new company that will take over the Cercanías commuter rail service. Playà will assume the functions previously held by Josep Enric Garcia Alemany, the Cercanías operations director, who was dismissed following the rail crisis that Catalonia has experienced in the last week. The decision was announced by the Secretary of State for Transport, José Antonio Santano, in an interview on 3cat. In the interview, Santano explained that Playà will have a "dual role," and stressed that, given that Cercanías is a company partly owned by Renfe, "it is reasonable" that the person "agreed upon" by the Catalan government and Renfe—and therefore by the Ministry—"can be in charge of the entire operation." "It's a good time to eliminate this dual leadership and improve coordination," he added.

Hours earlier, the ERC spokesperson in the Catalan Parliament, Ester Capella, had asked the Minister of Territory, Housing, and Ecological Transition, Sílvia Paneque, that the new head of the mixed commuter rail company assume the management of Renfe Catalunya.

During a parliamentary interpellation on Wednesday, Capella stated that the recent rail crisis demonstrates that "the time has come to accelerate" the transfer. In her response, Paneque agreed that the crisis presents an "opportunity" for Catalonia to "integrate itself into the operations and infrastructure" of the new company.