The Railway Infrastructure Administrator (ADIF) has suspended the railway circulation of the entire Rodalies network in Catalonia in the early hours of this Wednesday after two trains derailed and, in one of them, one of the drivers died and dozens of travelers were injured. Wednesday’s day begins with rail transport and with the question of whether they will find an alternative for mobility while waiting for it to be proven that the entire Catalan railway network is safe.
The Regional Minister of Territory of the Generalitat, Sílvia Paneque, appeared this Wednesday at dawn a few meters from where the fatal accident occurred in Gelida after a retaining wall collapsed and a train hit the obstacle in the middle of the tracks. Paneque assured that the service will not be resumed until “all security” can be “guaranteed.” and Adif have carried out several “white marches” throughout the morning. Railway workers have driven empty passenger trains to check the safety of all lines.
This review of the lines, and the most important railway points, will last until 9:30 in the morning. At that time, a meeting will be held in which, in addition to Paneque herself, representatives from Renfe, Adif and the General Directorate of Transport and Mobility of the Generalitat will participate. “It will then be when we determine if the service can be reprimanded. At the point of the accident, the cutoff of the service will surely be longer. We will inform when it is resumed and we will reinforce the intercity bus services,” Paneque concluded.
The suspension of the Rodalies service was announced shortly after the Spanish Union of Railway Machinists (SEMAF) published a statement demanding the stoppage of the service, alleging “lack of safety guarantees.” The SEMAF recalled that not only had there been the accident on the R4 between Gelida and Sant Sadurní d’Anoia in which a person who was in the train cabin died and dozens of users were injured. On Tuesday, another R1 train derailed between Maçanet Massanes and Tordera when it collided with a rock that had fallen on the track, also as a result of the storm.
Rodalies articulates a network of 1,200 kilometers of roads and serves 127 million travelers a year. An average of 400,000 daily travelers depend on the 271 trains (some have already completed half a century of life) to get to their jobs, studies or leisure or health appointments… and they face daily collections of incidents and even some service stops.
This Wednesday will be the first stoppage of the entire Rodalies service in 2026. These interruptions will no longer be exceptional in 2025. On July 28, stops due to a breakdown at Sants station.
On Saturday, July 12, the entire Rodalies service was canceled again. On that occasion there was no incident, but rather a red weather alert due to a cold drop. Those inclement weather caused torrential rains and a high risk of flooding both in the metropolitan area of Barcelona and in other areas of Catalonia. Renfe chose to suspend the service at 4:20 p.m. as a preventive measure. There were no minimum services, no alternative transportation and the vast majority of stations were closed. The stoppage lasted about three hours and after 7:00 p.m. the service began to recover.
The third suppression of the service took place on April 28 and 29 as a result of the massive blackout that affected all of Spain. At 12:33 on April 28, the electricity was abruptly cut off and Renfe did not offer, due to lack of electricity, service throughout that day to Rodalies and had to evacuate many of its convoys, which had been stranded halfway. The surprise was huge on April 29. While the Barcelona Metro or Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat provided service normally, on Tuesday the 29th Renfe once again completely suspended the circulation of Rodalies. The then director, Antonio Carmona, alleged that the trains could not operate safely, since there were no sufficient voltage guarantees.
In 2024 there were more service interruptions. On November 4, 2024, the red alert was activated again due to torrential rains and the entire Rodalies rail service in Catalonia was suspended. All of Rodalies was closed for several hours and train circulation began to be restored after 2:00 p.m. On Sunday, May 12, 2024, there was not a cutoff of the entire service, but almost. That day the election day was held that finally led Salvador Illa to the presidency of the Generalitat. A copper theft caused damage to several substations and the catenary, leaving multiple sections inoperative. The trains could not access the Catalan capital and the collapse was widespread.
