“Rodalies is not working and in the Government we cannot hide.” Thus, Salvador Illa has sung the ‘mea guilt’ about the frequent incidents in the rail service. He has done so during the monographic debate that took place this Tuesday at the Parliament of Catalonia, forced by the opposition. The president has not tried to hide a situation that has “serious deficiencies”, but has struggled to be trusting that the problems have a solution that, although “will not be fast and easy”, will begin to be noticed “in the coming weeks or months,” he said.
Illa has promised a set of improvements to reverse the current situation. Among them, he has cited three aspects: infrastructure, material and governance. On the first issue, the Head of the Government has cited the works in the South corridor of Catalonia, the underground of the Sant Feliu de Llobregat road or the unfolding of key roads, such as the R3, among others. He has also announced an extension of trains, highlighting that “at the beginning of 2026, 110 new vehicles will be incorporated.”
Finally, he has stood out as an essential improvement for the service that Rodalies’s transfer is completed so that the Generalitat is not only the holder of the service but also has power regarding management. “Proximity is an added value that helps provide more efficiency,” he said.
The Minister of Territori, Sílvia Paneque, who has intervented after the president, has been careful to be attentive to user platforms that followed her from the guest tribune. “I am aware of the hours that you dedicately to this and we want a constant interlocution with the entities,” said Paneque.
Like a few minutes before Iilla, Paneque has avoided any attempt to soften the service problems. But he has avoided, on the other hand, to load guilt against the Ministry of Transportation or the companies involved in Rodalies, Renfe and Adif, and yet he has affected “the lack of strategic interest that has been in Catalonia” towards the rail service, in reference to previous autonomous governments.
“It is not time to find guilty but to find solutions,” he stressed, after making a hard but optimistic diagnosis. The Minister has assured that the network currently has serious deficiencies, as well as a very low degree of use of the available material, but has considered that all that can be reversed. “We must act in the short term but also have a long look to plan the system of the future,” he said.
One of the surprising statements of the Minister has been that up to 24% of the rolling material (especially trains) of Rodalies are not operational at this time, according to the estimates of the Generalitat itself. This has been one of the critical points that the Government has identified and that Paneque has listed before the plenary, but that in its opinion will be resolved in 2026 when the new 110 new trains are incorporated.
The opposition has been practically unanimous in its burden against the Government, whom they have accused of not doing enough for trains to work. The deputy of Junts Salvador Vergès recalled that they already requested a week ago the resignation of the Minister Paneque and has taken advantage of the plenary to ask again.
“It is not necessary to give data on the situation in Rodalies,” said Junts spokesman, “because everyone knows what we are talking about.” “And before this his recipe is that we have patience. Well, we have no patience,” Vergés has complained, who has assured that the Government does not know what to do while Catalonia “sinks for the disinversion of the State.”
The spokeswoman for Esquerra Republicana, Ester Capella, has demanded that Government give explanations and indicate those responsible. In addition, he stressed that “more investment and solutions are missing,” remarking that the only “real via” is the integral transfer of Rodalies. “I ask you to rise and do the job,” he said. ERC was the party that agreed in autumn of 2023 the transfer of Rodalies to the Generalitat, in exchange for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. The Republicans have also agreed with the labor pact to which the Ministry reached with the workers, whereby the new operating company will no longer be a mixed company, but a Renfe subsidiary.
Although ERC had been aligned lately with the Government Ready to transfer, Republicans have now increased their level of demand and have asked for the resignation of the presidents of Renfe and Adif and the reproduction of the Minister in the Parliament.
The deputy of the PP in the Parliament, àngels Esteller, has joined the complaints of the different parliamentary groups and has claimed the creation of a “centralized” platform that integrates a record of incidents of Rodalies. In addition, it has demanded an increase in machinists and more workshops for the maintenance of trains.
Who has rolled down during his speech has been David Cid, deputy of the Communs, another partner of the Government who has hardly charged the management of the trains. CID has asked the counselor “When will a service that has been incidents with incidents for more than 20 years?” Unlike other parties, he has attributed this situation to a person in charge, Adif, the company of the ministry that manages the Rodalies roads. “As much as there is a lot of investment, if there are no works everything jumps through the air.” The Communs will lead to Plenary an inciative that claims that Rodalies is “the main” priority in infrastructure, leaving behind matters such as the expansion of the El Prat airport.
For its part, the CUP has asked the Government to “procure Renfe” and impose economic sanctions before the serious incidents. In addition, it has also demanded the gratuity of Rodalies.
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