What is the orbital railway line? Seven keys to understanding the project

BarcelonaIt has gone from being a project shelved since 2010 to becoming the protagonist of the budget negotiations between the PSC and ERC. In ARA we explain what the Orbital Railway Line (LOF) is in seven key points:

The Orbital Railway Line (LOF) is a macro-project that aims to connect the cities of the second metropolitan ring without passing through Barcelona. The idea is not new; it has been part of Catalan railway plans for over 20 years. It was first conceived during Pasqual Maragall's tripartite government in 2004, but in 2010, complexity, bureaucratic problems, and political priorities shelved it. Now, Salvador Illa's executive has revived it as one of the "major country bets in mobility at the request of ERC, which has asked for the project to be reactivated as a bargaining chip to approve the budgets.

The orbital line proposes a large railway ring from Maresme and Vallès to Vilanova i la Geltrú, passing through Granollers, Sabadell, Terrassa, Martorell, and Vilafranca. According to the Department of Territory, the underlying goal is to move from a radial railway model (with Barcelona at the center) to a "networked" or "meshed" one, technically speaking, which is more in line with the "metropolitan" vision of the area.

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On paper, the infrastructure will be about 120 kilometers long, of which 68 will be newly constructed tracks. 40 stops are also foreseen: although some already existing ones from Cercanías and Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat (FGC) would be used, 23 would be completely new.

Territori points out that it would be a commuter train, for passengers, in Iberian gauge. The project is designed to travel at an average speed of 60 kilometers per hour, with peak speeds that can reach 120. Furthermore, the creation of this transversal network would serve, according to the department, to alleviate traffic saturation in the tunnels of Barcelona. However, the project is not expected to be completed until 2040, if the schedule is met without unforeseen events.

The works would be divided into 5 phases and the execution period would extend from 2027 to 2041. The first action would consist of reinforcing the current R8 of Cercanías between Granollers and Martorell, a line underutilized according to experts and the Government itself, which is now seen as the embryo of the new orbital.

The rest of the phases would include the construction of the new sections between Santa Perpètua and Sabadell; Mataró and Granollers; Terrassa and Martorell and Vilafranca and Vilanova, to complete the entire route and its stations.

When the project was proposed more than 20 years ago, the estimated cost was around 4 billion euros. Now, the Government expects a total investment of 5.2 billion euros to be needed. The State should be the one to finance it. Phase 0 is already on track because the Government of Pere Aragonès made the management commissions to move forward with two of the planned interchanges. A third one on the R8 would be missing. As for phase 1, the section between Santa Perpètua and Sabadell is already included in the Cercanías 2026-2030 plan.

Socialists and Republicans are now working for the project to be included within the investment company that ERC has also agreed with the Government and which is to serve to oversee State investments in Catalonia. The Generalitat-State Bilateral Commission this Wednesday in Madrid should specify this matter, reports Mireia Esteve.

The great transformation promised by the orbital railway line (LOF) is to move from a network where almost everything passes through Barcelona to one that embraces it (from the outside) from Mataró to Vilanova i la Geltrú and which, along the way, connects the main cities of the second ring, which currently have to pass through Barcelona to relate to each other.

The LOF would avoid this dependence on the central node and decongest the railway tunnels of the capital, one of the main bottlenecks of the system. At the same time, it would allow for better separation of freight, high-speed, and commuter traffic.

According to Territorio's calculations, the project has a potential demand of 30 million users per year and an area of influence of 3.2 million people, and would help to remove up to 29,000 vehicles daily from the road and reduce annual CO₂ emissions by 45,000 tons.

The LOF is not the only project that the PSC has rescued from the drawer. The same happened with the extension of the L2 metro, the undergrounding of the Gran Via in l'Hospitalet, the transfer of Rodalies (also promoted by ERC in the previous legislature), the B40 project, the Hard Rock one, and the maintenance of the model of interurban bus concessions, with a new six-year extension.

Both Foment del Treball and Pimec agree that the LOF "is not a priority infrastructure for the country" but value that it serves to facilitate the approval of the Budgets.

From the employers' association chaired by Josep Sánchez Llibre, Lluís Moreno points out that "it is not among the 100 measures" that Catalonia needs most. Along these lines, the head of Pimec Logistics, Ignasi Sayol, calls for the establishment of a National Infrastructure Pact: "It is essential that we all agree, because they take 15 or 20 years to be implemented".

On the other hand, the unions do believe that it will mark a before and after for the mobility of workers. "We celebrate that this project has been recovered", they assure from CCOO Catalunya. From UGT they emphasize that "it is one of the most congested corridors in the country" and estimate that the new line could serve nearly 600,000 people who travel between municipalities on the orbital axis for work.