catalan railway service

The Spanish Government has finally finished the construction work and circulation tests on the last 131-kilometre stretch of railroad to France. Barcelona, Girona and Figueres are now linked by High Speed Train, although a direct connection between the Catalan capital and France will have to wait until next April. Now, passengers can travel from Barcelona to Girona in only 37 minutes and to Figueres in a total of 53 minutes. If they want to continue to France, they will have to switch trains until April, when the Spanish trains will be standardised to be able to run in France. However, from now on, the Spanish and the French High Speed railway networks will finally be connected, twenty years after the Madrid-Seville line was unveiled. The Catalan President has emphasised that Catalonia is the Autonomous Community with the smallest amount of public infrastructures in Spain.

The Catalan Government has modified the work schedule and funds for Barcelona’s metro lines L9 and L10 in order to connect the Catalan capital with Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of El Prat Airport by 2014. Once finished, L9 will be the longest metro line in Europe.

After last week’s minor train accident, the Spanish Minister for Transport, Ana Pastor, wanted to personally check Barcelona Metropolitan Area’s railway infrastructure. Pastor has recognised that the Spanish Government had not invested the required amount in railway infrastructure in Catalonia. She said that €5.748 billion has not been invested. Many Catalan voices have criticised the Spanish Government’s lack of investment in key transport infrastructure for Catalonia’s economy.

Government and unions clash over success of strike action. Official figures suggest 11% of participation while unions raise the figure up to 75%. The salary cuts within the public sector adopted by the Spanish Government have infuriated the unions.