Delays in FGC commuter trains during rush hour after technical failures

The technical failure of three FGC trains on the Barcelona – Vallès line during rush hour led to major service delays most of Thursday morning.

Passengers reported crowds on social media as the service was only fully restored at 11 am, hours after disruptions began.

Problems began at around 8:15 am between the stations of Sarrià and Sant Cugat del Vallès with two trains that had to be removed from the tracks.

Some minutes later, at around 8:45 am, another train also stalled in Barcelona's Sarrià neighborhood.

Plaça Catalunya bound trains from Vallès were halted for some minutes, leading to disruptions until around 11 am when FGC informed commuters that normal schedules had been restored.

FGC stands for Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat and is a railway company managed by the Catalan government. This commuter train network has tracks and routes that are different from Spanish government-operated Renfe Rodalies.

The standard of service Renfe Rodalies offers has been in the spotlight for years. Catalan authorities have demanded to manage the train infrastructure and to have the service be transferred from Spain to Catalonia for decades. This has been a long-standing demand, especially from the 2000s, and management was only partly transferred in 2009.