The new company that will operate the Rodalies service is no longer just a commitment between ERC and the PSOE but, since Monday, it is also an agreement between the central and Catalan government. This has been ratified by both executives at the Bilateral Infrastructure meeting, where they have given the green light to the constitution of a new mixed company that will replace Renfe, with capital of both the Government and the Generalitat but with the majority of the latter.
The plan is that this new company operates all the trains of Rodalies on January 1, 2026. Before the statutes of this mixed company and the legal framework, that the Government and the Ministry want them to be ready before a month, with The objective of establishing the new mixed company as soon as possible.
Along with this, the bilateral commission of this Monday has taken a new step in the transfer of the ownership of the R1 line, the first one that was agreed to be transferred to the Generalitat. If last January the Generalitat began the procedures to be able to receive this line, in its section between the Sagrera and Maçanet-Massanes now the two administrations have given a new period of three months to make a patrimonial inventory of all the goods that They must be transferred.
Once this inventory is made, the transfer of the R1 must still go through two other bilateral commissions, the transfer and the economic, necessary steps before the Council of Ministers finally approves the change of ownership.
The ownership of the Rodalies network lines and what is the company that operates the service are two different issues and that have independent evolutions. Until now the company that has operated the trains has been Renfe but, from the day its successor is done with the reins of the service, it can manage all the lines, regardless of who the property is.
In parallel, the agreement signed between the PSOE and ERC implies the change of ownership of several lines, specifically, all sections of the network that can cease to be part of the general interest roads. The transfer of these is, therefore, a process that follows its own path regardless of which company operates the trains that circulate.
One of the issues that has caused the most headaches when addressing Renfe’s succession is the question of its workers. The staff who now works in Catalonia for the public company fears losing rights in a subrogation, such as the frequent demand to finish their work stage in other areas of the State.
To avoid this, the idea is that Renfe and the new company can sign an agreement that guarantees mobility, as well as maintaining the rights acquired.
“Full tranquility in the workplace, all the steps that will be made with full respect for Renfe’s labor rights, as signed in December 2023,” said the Secretary of State, José Antonio Santano.
At the same Monday meeting the two institutions have marked the priority objectives of the new Rodalies plan, which is still in the elaboration phase. Among other priorities, the new document is committed to actions such as the Intermodal Station in the field of Tarragona, the improvement of the capacity and intermodality of the Martorell Station, the duplication of the Montcada Bifurció-Puigcerdà line or the improvement of the Tarragona connection- Valencia in the Vila-Seca knot.
ERC stage your pressure on the Government
A few hours before the bilateral commission, the Minister Sílvia Panenque and the general secretary of ERC, Elisenda Alamany, have held a press conference in which they have once again staged the agreement reached between their two formations in November 2023, in exchange for The Republican votes for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.
Although without being able to submit new agreements between both formations, Alamany has taken advantage of the fact that the old pact materialized to remember that ERC is on both the PSOE and the PSC to comply with the signed. “ERC likes to reach agreements but likes agreements more than the agreements,” said Republican General Secretary.
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