Catalan president promises full resources to resolve Rodalies train chaos

Catalan president Salvador Illa promised "all the efforts and resources of the government" to resolve the issue.

Rodalies commuter rail passengers faced another morning of chaos on Friday, with delays caused by an electricity outage reported at around 8:40 a.m.

"I apologize to all the citizens affected," the president said in a letter sent from Perpignan, where he is attending an event.

Illa admitted that this type of incident "is not acceptable" and assured that the government "is focused on solutions, not controversies."

The issue forced trains to operate on a single track between Barcelona Sants station and El Prat de Llobregat. As a result, the lines R14, R15, R16 and R17 are running with delays of at least half an hour on Friday afternoon. 

At approximately 9:30 am, Catalan firefighters and Mossos d'Esquadra police evacuated a stranded train between Bellvitge and Gavà.

Minutes later, at around 9:50 am, train services between Bellvitge and El Prat were halted as several passengers were walking on the tracks. Spain’s public train operator, Renfe, urged commuters not to walk on the rails until law enforcement arrived to escort them safely to Bellvitge.

Firefighters assisted in evacuating around 900 people from trains.

"They're a disgrace"

Sara Pérez, a daily commuter for eight years to Gavà, is one of the rail users affected by Friday's train failures.

“You pay your ticket rigorously every day and they are a disgrace,” she told the Catalan News Agency on Friday morning.

Pérez waited for more than an hour at the Bellvitge-Gornal station before she was able to board a train. “The worst thing is that they don't say anything and don't offer an alternative.”

Next to her on the platform was Carlos Goitia who works at the airport and had a medical appointment at the Bellvitge Hospital, but left without seeing the doctor and “lost the whole morning.”

Goitia explained that his journey normally lasts only 13 minutes and he had arrived “with enough time” to be able to return “quickly” to work.

Instead, he was met with a "lack of details" about the impact of the delays and left not knowing what to tell his employers.

Rodalies director apologizes

The director of Rodalies, Antonio Carmona, apologized to the 900 commuters affected by the incident.

Speaking to the media in Sants station, Carmona explained that technicians from the company Adif, which manages the rail infrastructure, are working to restore power, remove the train that has stopped, and gradually restore service on both tracks.

He also thanked the Mossos d'Esquadra, the Fire Department, and the L'Hospitalet police force who helped evacuate passengers to Bellvitge station.

“We are urgently looking for solutions”

Sílvia Paneque, Catalonia's territory minister and government spokesperson, insisted that authorities are working with “urgency and speed” to resume normal services “as soon as possible.”

The latest complications come after a week of similar delays and disrupted travel.

According to Paneque, the network suffers from “a very clear problem of outdated infrastructure” but warned that improvements due to the latest investments will not be noticeable for at least two years.

Junts demand parliament appearance from Illa

Reaction to the Rodalies failures has been strong from politicians and civic groups. 

Junts, the largest pro-independence party and main opposition group, demanded that the Catalan president appear in parliament over the "daily chaos" in the commuter rail network.

Speaking to the Catalan News Agency, MP Mònica Sales said that Illa is "silent" in order to "not inconvenience" the ruling Spanish Socialist Party, and Sales asked Illa to position himself "on the side of the Catalans."

Spokesperson for the far-left pro-independence CUP, Su Moreno, criticized the "absurd chaos" in the commuter rail network.

"Years go by and the Spanish state continues to mistreat our people with delays, incidents, disinformation, and what is worse: putting people at risk," she said.

The Catalan National Assembly, one of the largest pro-independence civic groups, has called for a demonstration against the "chaos" of the commuter trains next Saturday, April 5, at 12:00 in front of Barcelona's Sants station.

The demonstration coincides with another called the same day by the Tenants' Union to demand a drop in rents.