Barcelona (EFE) .
In statements at the Gavà station (Barcelona), where the Cercanías failure occurred last week, affecting the service of the R2 and R2 Sud lines, the President of the Generalitat stressed that the necessary resources are not allocated to the maintenance of this railway network.
Aragonès has visited the affected station accompanied by the Minister of Territory, Juli Fernàndez; the general director of conservation and maintenance of Adif, Ángel Contreras; and the director of Rodalies, Mayte Castillo, among others.
The President of the Generalitat has stressed that the lack of investment is a political decision “that beyond technical and operational areas” is the responsibility of the “current State Government”.
“That it be invested where it has been invested in other territories of the State”, has requested the president, who has also assured that the citizens of Catalonia, and especially the users of the R2 Sud, “do not deserve to be treated as second-class citizens”. .
Aragonès has also made the Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, who was mayoress of Gavà, ugly, for not having visited the station where the signaling failure occurred a week after the incident.
Regarding the Government’s refusal to transfer Rodalies to the Generalitat, Aragonès has described it as “excuses”, because, when the Government has wanted, it has modified the regulations “and has set the political conditions”.
“I am convinced that no matter how little good that can be managed from the institutions of Catalonia, it will be done better than what we have today”, he stated.
ADIF CONTINUES TO INVESTIGATE THE CAUSES
Regarding the reason for the failure, Contreras stressed that the hypothesis of a lightning strike at the Gavà signaling as the cause of the incident is a “possible and feasible” option, although the causes of the incident are still being investigated.
The person in charge of Adif has explained that it could also have been the result of plastic, due to the overvoltage from the passage of a train, “and that is what we are finishing to resolve right now”, at the same time that he has affirmed that the catenary of the track was “in perfect condition”.
Contreras has also explained that they continue to calculate the period of between three and four weeks initially set for the train service to return to normal, and that they are working to try to shorten the time it is affected.
To alleviate the situation, Renfe has made a total of 90 coaches available to passengers on the R2 Sud to establish a complementary shuttle bus service that connects Gavà, Castelldefels and Sant Vicenç de Calders with Barcelona.
The railway operator has specified that this shuttle bus service will be available during rush hour in the morning from Monday to Friday in the Barcelona direction and at rush hour in the afternoon in the opposite direction.