Sagrera station construction progressing faster than expected
R2 and R11 Rodalies lines will not return to normality until December 11
Rodalies commuter trains, metro, buses, and even high-speed trains will all stop at Barcelona's Sagrera station in the future. The infrastructure is still under construction but Adif, the Spanish rail infrastructure administrator, believes that the works are now progressing faster than first expected.
Works on the train station are currently altering the R2 and R11 Rodalies commuter train routes, a job that is affecting thousands of commuters daily since September. However, these construction works are going faster than first expected as the company already has over 60% of the work done.
Despite the progress, the R2 and R11 train lines will not return to full normality until December 11.
"Even if we finish construction early, we cannot start using the infrastructure the next day, as we have to prove it is safe and reliable. The phase requires two or three weeks, once works have finished," Alberto Alcañiz, Adif's responsible technician supervising the 'La Sagrera' project told journalists on Tuesday.
Right now, works are aimed at laying the tracks for the Barcelona-Granollers-Girona line by the end of the year as well as opening the new Sant Andreu Comtal station.
Once completed, 4.3km of tracks will cross the La Sagrera station. Right now, 2.8km of these are already laid.
The majority of remaining works will be completed in the second half of November, from there, a third phase will start focused on linking the new tracks with the current ones in Barcelona's Sant Andreu Comtal train station.
At the same time, experts will finalize reports and perform test to guarantee the safety of the infrastructure.
Service disruptions on Rodalies train lines, which are free from September to December, have been a longstanding complaint in Catalonia.
On September 9, 80,000 commuters were affected by a telecommunications breakdown that halted all lines except high-speed trains entirely between 5 am and 8 am.
Almost a fifth of Barcelona area commuters
Almost a fifth of commuters use the three lines on an average workday.
Over 41,400 commuters use the R1 on weekdays, with around 30,400 taking it on weekends, while the R2N and R11 see almost 31,600 on weekdays and 21,200 on Saturdays and Sundays.