The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Oscar Bridgestressed that 50% of all non-infrastructure incidents that occur in Spain occur in Catalonia, stressing that the Generalitat has security powers.
This was stated by the minister during an intervention in Congress and in the face of criticism from Junts, who accused the government of what it considers to be “mistreatment” of the investments that Catalonia receives.
In his response, the minister explained that Catalonia is concentrating 25% of the suburban train network across the countrybut 50% of the incidents occur there, which is attributed to a security problem, a skill that the Mossos d’Esquadra have.
“Stonings on trains do not happen anywhere in Spain, except in Catalonia. We will have to do some education on this subject. Last weekend, there was an injured person on board a train following a stone attack. The same thing happens with the cuts to the catenaries, is Adif responsible for the fact that 40 meters of catenaries were cut, that there are so many thefts of catenaries in Catalonia? “Who is responsible for security in Catalonia?”, he asked.
Investment deficit
Regarding the investment deficit that Junts denounced in Catalonia, citing a report that estimates investment in commuter trains to Catalonia at 17% between 1990 and 2018, compared to 48% for Madrid, Puente acknowledged that the infrastructure in Catalonia “has been abandoned for a long time”, but said that since 2018 his government has been “providing a remedy”.
“The autonomous community to which this ministry allocates the most investments is Catalonia, and the second Andalusia“And it’s not a whim, it’s because they need it,” he said.
Puente defended that last year 940 million were invested in this area in Catalonia, going from 860 million in 2022 and 637 million in 2021, while this year, with 400 million between January and May, it is expected to exceed last year’s figure.
