will not support budgets if railway investments in Catalonia do not increase

“If you don’t correct this chronic dynamic from many years ago, in the budgets, they will not be able to count on us “to approve them,” said MP Isidre Gavin i Valls during the Transport Commission of the Congress of Deputies, where the minister of the sector, Óscar Puente, appeared this Thursday.

For the pro-independence MP, the situation of Renfe in Catalonia is a “constant teasing” and deplored the “chaos of a public company like Renfe, which is oriented towards the government and not towards the user.” He also denounced the existence of a “plus-cut” in Catalonia and a “permanent plus-investment” in Madrid, as well as the increasing number of incidents in the Catalan network.

In response, The Minister of Transport highlighted the differences between the Cercanías and Rodalies networks justify the differences in investment. In addition, he stressed that it is “very difficult” to reconcile the necessary works in some sections with the normal maintenance of the service. He also stressed that 50% of all acts of vandalism occur in Catalonia.

“Great transformations take time,” he defended. Regarding the execution of the budget in Catalonia, The head of Transport assured that his ministry where he executes the most budget is precisely in Catalonia.followed by Andalusia. And this, he adds, “because it has been abandoned for a long time.

Resignation requests

Most of the spokespersons of the Transport Commission criticized Puente’s work at the head of the ministry, even from Sumar, whose spokesman, Félix Alonso, demanded more attention and investment in conventional transport and not focus so much on the transport of large goods. speed. “That is what we demand from the other side of the government,” he said.

However, the harshest statements came from the Catalan parties, on the one hand, and from the right, on the other. While ERC, Junts and the BNG, the Government’s investiture partners, criticized the leadership this Thursday, PP and Vox came to demand Puente’s resignation due to the situation of rail transport.

Puente defended himself by alluding to the fact that the socialists have been in La Moncloa since 2018 and that, precisely since then, investments have increased year after year. “The tragedy of Spain is not that of Spain, it is yours. For you, not having power is a tragedy “because they consider that the power belongs to them,” the minister criticized.

“When I arrived in government, they told me that the resignation request counted; and that of Vox had twice as much,” joked the Minister of Transport, who assured that he would present himself as many times as necessary to explain the situation of rail transport.

“Captive Travelers”

During his speech, Bridge attributed the increase in rail ridership – which partly explains the incidents – to new passengers choosing the train over other modes of transport, and not because they are “captive travellers” with no other alternative. He acknowledged, however, that this summer had been a complicated period from an operational point of view.

The Valladolid man reiterated his apologies to the affected users for the incidents, stressing that the government is determined to improve the quality of the rail service. “We must work to provide the highest quality rail transport service to our passengers and we are working on it,” the minister said. commit to correcting the problems detected and to improve the areas that concern them.

Puente indicated that some of the most recent incidents – also that of August 5 – are due to problems with the Talgo (April) trains of the 106 series. Precisely, he announced that New claims against Talgo are under investigation to claim compensation for the damages that the breakdowns of the new Avril trains have caused to Renfe.

In this sense, the former mayor of Valladolid explained that, among the incidents recorded in recent weeks with the new Talgo trains, two thirds have occurred on those of sliding treada technology typical of the Spanish manufacturer and considered its main strong point.

Given the PP’s criticism of the failures of these trains, Puente responded that the “controversial” award of the contract was a matter for the government of Mariano Rajoy.. “Have they changed their minds about these trains being ‘good, pleasant and cheap’?

The minister described the incident at the beginning of August as a “perfect storm” that paralyzed all Chamartín-Atocha trains. This situation, he explained, highlights the need to complete current work to “make up for lost time” and improve existing infrastructure.

In fact, one of the critical points pointed out by Puente was the situation of the station. Chamartínepicenter of the most serious incidents of last year. As he explained, the increase in the number of passengers exceeded initial forecasts, which generated a situation of “overcrowding” and tension in the station.

“In 2024, we will exceed the figure forecast for 2040, with a forecast of 13.9 million passengers“, said the minister, stressing that the available space is insufficient to serve so many travelers.

As for trains, Puente acknowledged that part of the fleet has exceeded its useful life.which has generated maintenance problems in a context of high demand. Despite this, the minister assured that “the largest purchase of trains in the history of Renfe” is underway to resolve the situation.

The minister concluded his speech by reiterating his apologies to users and asking them to show patience and understanding until the end of the ongoing investments, which, he said, will soon yield visible results.We are investing more than ever, we will see the results soonand in the meantime we will try to reduce incidents as much as possible,” he concluded.