Rodalies commuter train service completely suspended all weekend, safety checks underway

Rodalies commuter train service was fully suspended again in Catalonia on Saturday at around 1pm, as operator Renfe was carrying out some safety checks in the network after the heavy rain earlier this week. Authorities decided to suspend the whole network for the whole weekend, therefore no trains will be running on Sunday either.

In the early hours of Saturday, Renfe had stated no service would be available during the day, later in the morning the situation "evolved" and some trains were allowed to run, while with major disruptions, but at 1pm the activity came to a complete halt again.

Company spokesperson Antonio Carmona said on Saturday morning that maintenance works overnight enabled at least a partial service. However there were major disruptions in most lines and the Catalan government eventually called for the service to stop.

As meetings to handle the crisis among the several institutions and public companies involved in the service were underway on Saturday, the Catalan government also called on Renfe to offer free service until it is fully restored.

Services were suspended throughout Wednesday and Thursday following a fatal accident on Tuesday evening in Gelida. An R4 line train crashed, killing one driver and injuring dozens of passengers. Early on Friday, the commuter rail network began progressively restoring train services across all lines, but a landslide in the afternoon between Maçanet-Massanes and Blanes, with no injured, contributed to reconsider the decision and perform more checks.

Saturday morning partial service

As for Saturday, due to the safety checks in areas with risk of landslide after the recent storms, no service was offered between Maçanet-Massanes and Blanes on R1, and just two trains an hour were offered on the rest of the line. Shortly before 10am, Renfe informed that the segment between L'Hospitalet de Llobregat and Mataró was also out of service.

As for R2, frequency is lowered to two trains per hour between Estació de França and Sant Vicenç de Calders, and at 10.20am an interruption in the service was reported between Castelldefels and Vilanova i la Geltrú. Meanwhile, R3 continued with the major disruption going on since October and cut go even further this Saturday: no service was provided at all, and between L'Hospitalet de Llobregat and Ribes de Freser road replacement service was offered –due to the state of roads, this is not possible between Ribes de Freser and Puigcerdà.

R4 was still struggling after the deadly incident on Tuesday evening in Gelida, as only replacement road service was provided between Martorell and Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, with normal service in the rest of the line. R8 was also working as usual, as well as R11 –except for the segment Figueres – Portbou, under maintenance works.

In the regional network, there were also some segments without service: Sant Vicenç de Calders to Vinaixa (R13), Reus to Vinaixa (R14), Reus and Riba-Roja d'Ebre (R15) and Cervera to Terrassa (RL4).