trains

Passengers 'rebel' to force him reach destination, over three hours later than scheduled

French company parts ways with Spain's Renfe after nine years of joint services

Barcelona–Vallès line service fully restored at 11 am

Failure in telecommunications system causes chaos that will continue for hours, with 80,000 commuters affected

'Batec' movement believes Spain is not investing enough in Catalan railway network, as protest has limited impact

Decision comes as cabinet tries to persuade Madrid for full control of network in Catalonia

Protest has led to severe disruptions in services and heavier road traffic

Service resumes in Barcelona's main station, Sants, as some lines go over four hours without carriages

French company offers Barcelona-Madrid trips from €9, and Renfe will compete with AVLO low-cost trains

Liberalization of railway services to increase commercial offer by 65%

When are they taking place, who’s calling the protests, and how will it affect you

Alstom's factory in Santa Perpètua de Mogoda will start delivery of the high-tech rolling stock in December 2021

The high speed railway line that connects Girona to Barcelona registered 1.01 million travelers throughout 2016. That is the same volume of passengers that went from Catalonia’s capital city to Tarragona over the last nine years according to statistics provided by Renfe, the Spanish train operator. Barcelona is not only connected to Girona and Tarragona; Avant trains also travel to Lleida. This route has also been a great success in 2016, used by 4.03 million passengers. Altogether 10.7 million people have traveled from the four Catalan provincial capitals since 2008. 2016 was the most successful year with 2.05 million travelers.

Catalan Minister for Territory and Sustainability, Josep Rull, explained this Friday that the Government has presented an appeal before Spain’s High Court, the ‘Audiencia Nacional’, denouncing Adif’s lack of investment in the short and medium railway network in Catalonia. Rull accuses the Spanish public body in charge of railway infrastructure and the Spanish Ministry for Infrastructure of not complying with the agreed investment. “We open the judicial way because the political one between both governments has proved to be broken”, he stated. Rull pointed out that Adif committed to investing 306 million euros in Catalonia’s railway network and only so far only 4.2% of this has been carried out. “Therefore, there is a flagrant failure to fulfil”, he insisted. Current Spanish Vice-president, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, responded to the Government’s action and stated that “this proves that those who think they are right turn to the legal mechanisms available”.

The terrorist attacks in Paris in November last year unleashed a wave of police checks throughout the continent, especially along the French border near Girona. It is suspected that criminals have given up using cars to transport illegal goods across the border and are now using the train network as their preferred means of transport. To battle against this, a strategy had to be designed by both the Spanish and French police agencies that would see them working together to find an effective solution before it became too much of a problem. These teams have been in operation on the high-speed train that operates between Paris and Barcelona for the past three years now.