SPAIN’s minister of transport and sustainable mobility, Mr Óscar Puente, has agreed to form a political commission that will consider the transfer to the regional government of Rodalies, Renfe’s suburban and regional operations in Catalonia.
The agreement was reached on January 10 during a meeting in Madrid between Puente and Ms Ester Capella, the Catalan regional government minister responsible for public transport and infrastructure.
The new commission will start work in the first week of February, according to Capella, and will be formed by representatives from Spain’s Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility and the Catalan regional government. Working groups will be set up to consider future funding arrangements and the transfer of train operations.
Also under consideration will be the possible transfer of rail infrastructure to Catalonia, which according to the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable MobilityMitma, would be those lines used exclusively by Rodalies trains that could be separated from the rest of the national railway network (RFIG) managed by Adif.
Rodalies currently comprises suburban services in Barcelona and Girona, as well as regional routes to Lleida, Portbou, Reus and Tarragona.
The work of the new commission will include setting up a new operating company, Rodalies de Catalunya, that will be owned by both the Spanish and Catalan governments.
Other issues to be resolved include calculating the operating deficit and transferring the resources needed to cover this, and delivering an action plan setting out timescales and how costs will be shared between the two administrations.
The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility will continue negotiations with rail unions at Renfe and Adif, with the Spanish government undertaking to guarantee current terms and conditions at all times.
Separately, the ministry and the regional government are working to implement an agreement that will see €384m invested to improve transport infrastructure in the Maresme district centred on Mataró.
A separate agreement will provide €36m to build two new interchanges on line R8 of the Rodalies network, one connecting with Hospital General station on line S1 of the Catalan Government Railways (FGC) network, and the other with Volpelleres on line S2.
