TarragonaNew alternative plan for works in the Rodalies de Catalunya network. As Renfe announced this Monday, between January 2 and 4 the rail connection with Josep Tarradellas Barcelona – El Prat Airport will be suspended due to works to be carried out by Adif to improve access to the airport. The announced works will affect the circulation of the R2, R2 north and R2 south between Gavà and Barcelona and to deal with it, Renfe will offer 68 buses every hour during the three days that the impact will last, coinciding with the Christmas holidays.
The alternative road plan between Gavà and the Catalan capital will have two routes: one direct between Gavà and Barcelona (in both directions) and another that will cover the intermediate stops in the municipalities of Gavà, Viladecans and El Prat de Llobregat (between which is the stop at the airport).
The director of Rodalies, Antonio Carmona, announced this new impact this Monday in a meeting to assess the operation of the alternative service that the company is offering during the works affecting the Sant Vicenç de Calders tunnel. Two months after the start of these works, Carmona has recognized that the service still has some shortcomings. “We are aware that reliability and punctuality at the entrance to Barcelona must be improved”, he said in the press conference following the meeting he held with the mayors and representatives of the towns of Tarragona and the Terres de the Ebro most affected by these cuts. Carmona has admitted that it is in the train entry to the Catalan capital that they are detecting more delays.
New cuts in Tarragona for four weekends
The meeting also served for the representative of Rodalies to convey to the mayors that during four weekends (25 and 26 January, 1 and 2, 8 and 9 February and 1 and 2 March) things will get even more complicated, because new works will be carried out at Sant Vicenç de Calders station which will force a new alternative plan to be drawn up with respect to the controversial alternative plan that has been carried out so far. Broadly speaking, Renfe will move the hub railway where all the buses stop to make the transfer and take the train from Sant Vicenç to Cunit.
In this way, all the coaches that until now connected different points of the territory with Sant Vicenç station, will do so with Cunit during the designated weekends. Of all the lines affected (R2 South, R4, R13, R14, R15, R16 and R17), the passengers most affected by the new alternative plan are those who use the R13, R14 and R15, since the section that connects the Plana- Picamoixons with Sant Vicenç de Calders will be cut. Therefore, during these weekends they will also have to go to Cunit by bus.
Of all those present at the meeting with Renfe, the most critical of the alternative plan was Anna Gómez, spokesperson for the Dignitat a les Vies association. “The first four trains of the day always arrive late”, he criticized and asserted that travelers have less and less patience with this situation: “Psychologically, we are very worn out”. The representatives of the Ribera d’Ebre and Priorat County Councils have also been critical, complaining that it takes six hours to get to Barcelona.
