Evacuations in the dark due to tunnels and the commuter train service, definitively cancelled

BarcelonaThis was one of the first orders received by Catalan security forces: to locate and free the thousands of Barcelona train and metro users who, due to the power outage, had been trapped inside the trains. The evacuation took place on the already darkened tracks. Many users used their cell phone flashlights to navigate. Crowds formed at Barcelona Sants station due to the evacuations and confusion. There was also a swarm of people at bus stops, the only public transport system that remained open throughout the day, although many traffic lights were out, complicating traffic flow.

Marina, a student at the UB, walked through the train tunnels. "I was about to take the train to Sant Celoni and it stopped between Sants and Passeig de Gràcia stations, where it braked suddenly. After half an hour, they told us they had to turn off the lights because there was a general downturn," she explained to ARA. "We were on the train for approximately an hour and a half, which was in a tunnel. We were in total darkness because there was no light coming in anywhere. The police came to evacuate us, and we walked along the tracks, with flashlights, to Sants station." Afterwards, she took advantage of the few moments when she had signal to call her parents to come pick her up from Granollers.

For this reason, many people have tried to leave Barcelona and return home by bus. Like Jessica, who, after waiting half an hour for one to return to Castelldefels, considered taking a taxi with some friends. However, since they didn't have any cash, they decided to wait. Manuel asked a friend for money to pay for the bus ride to Salou because he couldn't take the train, his usual means of transport. "When will I get home?" is the question asked by the thousands of people who have tried or are trying to return home. Long lines have formed at the bus stops connecting Barcelona with the metropolitan area or Camp de Tarragona. "Normally, they come every fifteen minutes, but I've been waiting for an hour and a half and not one has come yet," notes Carla, a university student who traveled from the UB campus to Mundet "on foot and on city buses."

The commuter train service is canceled.

At night, the commuter train service announced that it would no longer be reactivated. Tickets across the entire network will be free this Tuesday. Across Spain, 116 trains were affected, and more than 30,000 passengers had to be evacuated. Transport Minister Óscar Puente announced at 4 p.m. that "it is not foreseeable that medium- and long-distance trains will be restored." He later announced that the stations of Atocha, Chamartín, Santos, Bilbao, Valencia, Seville, Córdoba, Zaragoza, Valladolid, and Málaga would remain open tonight. "The goal is to make it easier for people who have to take a train and have no other option to stay overnight to do so." Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for travel restrictions because "critical hours" were being sold.

Meanwhile, other services were gradually being restored in the Catalan capital. At night, Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) announced the restoration of partial services on lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10, and their operation throughout the night. Regarding the tram, services had been restored (with modifications) on lines T1, T2, and T3 by mid-afternoon. Lines T4, T5, and T6 remain out of service.

Around 9 p.m., Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) also announced that train service on lines L6 (Sarrià) and L7 (Avda. Tibidabo) was operating normally, while lines S1 and S2 were running between Pl. Cataluña and Sant Cugat stations with a frequency of one train every ten minutes. Line L12 (Reina Elisenda) has been suspended.

Long waits at Sants station

The first hours of the blackout were filled with uncertainty and long waits outside Sants station, where those affected were evacuated from the trains and metro without explanation. In Madrid, Àlex and Raül, from Viladecans and Cunit, were stopping off on the return leg of the Copa del Rey final in Seville and were stranded by the suspension of the AVE service in Barcelona. Along with eight other Catalans they met at Atocha Station, they got together to find a solution, as none of them had anywhere to sleep. Without internet access, they tried to find a hotel by going directly to the reception of accommodations near the station.

María de los Llanos de Luna, the former Spanish government delegate in Catalonia and current PP member of Congress, has found a room. Since they already know her, they've reserved a room for her in the same hotel where she usually stays. She was supposed to participate in a committee in Congress, but all activities have been suspended.

Queues of up to 17 km at the entrances to Barcelona

Road traffic has also quickly become more complicated. On the access roads to Barcelona, the Catalan Traffic Service has warned of traffic jams of 17 kilometers on the B-10 (the coastal ring road) from Santa Coloma de Gramenet, 11 kilometers on the B-23 (access via the Diagonal) between Molins de Rei and Barcelona, and almost 8 kilometers more on the B-20 (ring road). The AP-7 and C-58 highways are also experiencing traffic jams for about ten kilometers in the direction of Barcelona.

In Barcelona, traffic chaos has also erupted in several places, as several traffic lights have been shut down. One hotspot was the intersection of Aragó Street and Urgell Street, where Gerard, a Barcelona resident, volunteered to organize traffic with a whistle and a fluorescent vest lent to him by construction workers.

Another difficult area is El Prat Airport. Hundreds of passengers have queued to find an alternative after their flight was canceled. Aleix Giró, who was returning home to Ibiza, told ARA that, after the blackout, he boarded the bus to board, but was told to get off shortly afterward and informed them that the flight was canceled. The entire facility went dark at 12:35 p.m., but power was restored within a minute because the emergency generators were activated.

Airport expert Òscar Oliver explains to ARA that the alternative energy generation systems at the airport have capacity "for well over a couple of days." Some airports have extended their operating hours to accommodate rescheduled flights.