One lane of AP-7 southbound to reopen on Saturday

One southbound lane of the AP-7 at Martorell will reopen this Saturday from 2pm, authorities have announced.

The lane to reopen will be the left-hand lane, after technicians from Spain's Ministry of Transport assessing the road confirmed that reopening it is "perfectly safe," as the collapse occured on the outer embankment and not on the motorway carriageway itself.

The other two lanes will remain closed for repairs following the disruption caused by the Gelida rail accident.

On Friday, workers began installing barriers to separate a single lane, the one closest to the northbound side and furthest from the train tracks.

Catalan interior minister Núria Parlon confirmed on Friday that tolls on the C-32 remain lifted.

On Thursday evening, Ramon Lamiel, director of the Catalan Traffic Service (Servei Català de Trànsit, SCT), said the southbound carriageway of the AP-7 motorway between Martorell and Sant Sadurní d'Anoia would remain closed at least until Saturday.

Speaking to Catalunya Ràdio, Lamiel said the Catalan government had been invited to carry out a site visit on Saturday to assess possible solutions at the section affected by the wall and embankment collapse that caused the fatal train accident in Gelida.

"They have proposed that we go there together to see what the traffic solution might be, if a solution is possible," Lamiel said.

He added that updates may be provided on Saturday, but stressed that "what initially was a closure of hours – which we already said would turn into days – we still believe will remain a closure of days."

Motorists faced as much as 18 kilometres of tailbacks on Thursday morning on the A-2 motorway between Cornellà de Llobregat and Martorell, heading towards Barcelona, amid the ongoing closure of the AP-7 nearby.

Rodalies rail services resumed gradually on Friday following a two-day shutdown.