The Rodalies de Catalunya railway system suffered new paralyzations on Thursday morning due to "operational problems." Renfe spokesperson in Catalunya, Antonio Carmona, attributed the lack of service to drivers' demands for increased safety, although he confirmed they were reporting for work.
Minutes later, Óscar Puente intervened, calling the week "very difficult" due to two recent serious incidents. The Minister flatly denied that the cancellations were due to safety failures in the network, insisting that the cause was the shortage of available drivers.
Regarding union demands, Puente noted that some requests "are not viable" in the short term, as infrastructure interventions "cannot be executed in a few hours." He warned workers not to further damage the railway system by mixing unrelated demands.
“"I try to put myself in the drivers' shoes, I recognize the emotional impact, but I also ask them for empathy with the thousands of people who daily need rail transport to commute."
Regarding the incidents, such as the collapse of the retaining wall in Gelida, Puente explained that the infrastructure had been reviewed and that water accumulation due to rain was the main cause. He also mentioned the collapse of another wall in Pineda de Mar on Wednesday morning, which did not affect the service as it occurred outside operating hours.
Finally, the Minister justified why Rodalies in Catalunya suffers more incidents than other networks (such as FGC or the Barcelona metro) due to the age, extension, and complexity of the infrastructure, affected by years of underinvestment that began to recover in 2018.
