"The reaction of the State Government and the global situation suffered by the Rodalies de Catalunya service is completely unacceptable." The serious breakdown suffered by the Rodalies train service of the R2 Sud, which could leave the service at a minimum of four weeks, has prompted Pere Aragonés to send a letter, to which La Vanguardia has had access, to the Minister of Transport , Raquel Sánchez, to denounce the "unconvincing excuses" that the Spanish Executive has given to justify a new setback that adds to the endless list of incidents in Rodalies.
And it is that for the Government, the Ministry of Transport and the Administrator of Railway Infrastructures (Adif), the cause of the breakdown in the R2 Sur is a lightning strike that broke the catenary. The Generalitat denies it. It is based on the reports of the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya (SMC), which ensures that during the recent episode of rain in Catalonia there were no storms on the Baix Llobregat coast.
The President of the Generalitat is not convinced by the Government's justification and believes that it is trying to wash its hands of it. In the letter to Sánchez, he criticizes that "no one assumes responsibility" and regrets that the answers offered are nothing more than "unconvincing excuses" that in no way solve "the structural problem" that citizens suffer.
Aragonès maintains that it is a problem of a political nature, "which goes beyond the technical explanations that Adif and Renfe can give" and announces that next Monday he will visit the station affected by the failure in Gavà, the city in which Sánchez has He served as mayoress from 2014 to 2021. The president affirms that he intends to know in situ the incident located in Gavà and "the forecasts for the restoration of the service fully".
In addition, in the text, dated May 5, Aragonès shows his concern "for the chronic malfunction of the Rodalies de Catalunya service." A concern that he qualifies as the highest in the face of an infrastructure that he considers essential for the mobility of citizens and the competitiveness of the Catalan economy. For the head of the Government, the service is "deficient" and he is demanding for the umpteenth time the pending investments and that a transfer of the Rodalies service that the Generalitat has been demanding for years be made effective.
Be that as it may, the chaos of Rodalies has entered the campaign for a few days. ERC, but also Junts, have seen in the almost daily deficiencies in the service of these trains a good point of support to win the vote for the Catalan socialists ahead of the May 28 elections. "The only thing that the PSC manages in Catalonia from Moncloa and it is a disaster" is one of the phrases that the Republicans repeat over and over again, targeting Raquel Sánchez, who is part of the PSC. So much so that Esquerra has demanded that the minister be disapproved in Congress.
This letter to the Ministry of Transport has not been the only one in recent times. The Councilor of the Presidency, Laura Vilagrà, sent a missive to Sánchez in March regarding the "systemic laziness". In October 2021, Aragonès had already sent another letter to the minister complaining.
