The Renfe has in its Catalan rail network of 271 trains, so, according to Paneque, more than 65 do not work, being one of the causes of the collapse of the Catalan rail system. There is a fact that can explain that phenomenon: the antiquity of the convoys. Next year, after a long time, new trains will begin to circulate, just out of the Alstom factory of Santa Perpètua de Mogoda. From next January until 2030, 110 new acquisition trains will arrive with which you will try to improve a network used 400,000 users.
. The president of the company, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, published on April 6 12 days after the complaint of the Minister of Territori a long thread in the network X denying the paneque data. “No, one in four rodalies trains is not out of four. This is false, no matter how much it is repeated,” he warned. Fernández admitted that between 5% and 15% of the trains of any network remain inoperative to perform maintenance, cleaning or reserve them to attend incidents. In 2024 this percentage of trains in maintenance, reserve or cleaning in Rodalies was 18.67%. The company’s president admitted that the percentage was raised and that it was due to several factors: 3% of trains were not available in Catalonia because they were cleaning, mainly because of graffiti. Fernández argues that in Catalonia there is more vandalism than in other communities and that many times the graffiti force to “declare useless” the train for the service. The president of Renfe also assumed that “the average age of the fleet is high and that gives rise to greater immobilizations.” Fernández said that 5.5% of the trains that were not available were because they accumulated many years and should be reviewed.
No, they are not out of service 1 out of 4 trains in Rodalies. This is false for more than repeated and in this 🧵 thread 🧵 I try to explain why:
– 🚉Alvaro F Heredia🚅🚈🚂 (@transxte)
Are Rodalies trains obsolete? Joan Carles Salmerón, the director of the Termus Transport Studies Center, admits that several trains are “very old.” Until 2009, Renfe rail services in Catalonia were divided between the vicinity and regional (medium distance). In 2009 the two services were unified under the nomenclature of Rodalies. “Today we have 271 trains of nine different models,” says Salmerón. From series 447 there are 129 trains that are distributed between the lines of the old vicinity and the regional ones. Most of these trains are from 1993 and many will remain active with the arrival of new vehicles next year. From the 448 series, manufactured in 1987, there are 18 trains that perform medium distance services. As of 1990, the 12 two -story trains of the 451 series were built and in 1993 the dozen trains – also two -story – of the 450 series. News are the 19 trains of the 449 – manufactured in 2008 – which also make the regional paths. In 2003, the eight trains of the 463 series were put into operation, the 464 train, and the 58 convoys of the 465 that circulate in lines R1, R2, R3 and R4. But the deans of the trains in operation in Catalonia are the 14 convoys of the 470 series manufactured since 1974 that cover the route of the R11 between Barcelona and Portbou and the R13 between the França and Lleida station. “The useful life of trains is usually 30 years old, as long as they are done good maintenance. Something that has not always happened to ours,” says Salmerón.
The Generalitat and the Ministry of Transport work to expand and create workshops that allow the arrival of 110 new trains. In these workshops, in addition, the cleaning of trains and the protection of the convoys will be basic to avoid graffiti and try to end 3% of the mobile park immobilized because of this activity. In addition, the Generalitat hopes that, at least 54 of those new trains will serve to expand the park and thus increase passage frequencies. From next year, 72 new trains will enter service that will cover the R1, R2, R3 and R4 and that Alstom is building. All will have a capacity of 900 people and can circulate up to 140 kilometers per hour. The company CAF is also building 24 trains that will replace the oldest of the regional lines. These trains will be added convoys until they reach between 2028 and 2030 at 110. 14 more new trains are also planned for the route to the airport that will manage railroads of the Generalitat and another 14 convoys, these second -hand, and with a variable route width, which will be allocated to the Tortosa area.
“Thanks to these new trains, the service will be improved, although not quite. The big problem of Rodalies has been the lack of investment. A high percentage of faults have their origin in the roads and catenaries, infrastructure dependent on ADIF, another very high percentage is due to vandalism and, final Infrastructure and, therefore, the service will be advanced, ”argues Salmerón.
What do Renfe machinists think of the mobile material with which they work? Francisco Cárdenas is a machinist in Catalonia and one of the representatives of UGT. It is sharp: “trains are wrong. Maintenance is bad because they are subcontracts to foreign companies and that is where they fail.” Rafa Escudero is an auditor and belongs to the Railway Union of Catalonia: “In the workshops the trains stay is prolonged because there are neither personnel nor spare parts. The workshops are not only insufficient, but they are lacking in resources. In addition, Renfe only maintains 76 trains of the 270, the rest is externalized. It is a nonsense and the fault of everything. The machinist in Barcelona and member of CGT, Miguel Huélamo, is also critical of the outsourcing of the service, although he admits that despite the age of the trains “they have a lot of reliability” and the deficiencies are due to infinance.
The Generalitat hopes that with the improvement in trains, works in stations, infrastructure, information and new management citizenship begins to notice improvements in the rodalies service in a matter of only a few months.
