This Monday at 8 a.m. the R4 trains stopped running between the stations of Sant Vicenç de Calders, in El Vendrell, and Vilafranca del Penedès in both directions due to the works that ADIF is carrying out to implement the Mediterranean corridor.
As an alternative, Renfe has enabled a bus service with stops at all stations, but users have regretted the lack of prior information. "It seems bad to me because no one had notified us," said one affected person when she got on the alternative service bus, while other users barely found out that the impact will last until August 16.
The daily interruption of the train service will be extended until 7 p.m. and will be repeated from 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. It will not affect weekends or holidays.
While the cut lasts, the R4 is out of service at the stations of San Vicente de Calders, Vendrell, Arboç, Monjos and Vilafranca.
Renfe points out that it announced this cut on Thursday of last week. Company sources indicate that it was not communicated further in advance because it was the Christmas vacation period and they consider that the information could have been dispersed because many workers do not go to work. "It was agreed to report from the first working week because it was concluded that it was more effective," he insists.
The fact that the cutoff is from 8 am avoids the rush hour in which most users use this transport in the direction of Vilafranca and Barcelona, or in the south direction: from the capital of Alt Penedès to the Vendrell and Sant Vicenç stations. by Calders.
In this way, this Monday, a dozen people got on at the starting point of the first alternative buses to Vilafranca. At the El Vendrell stop, around a dozen more on average do so.
Almost all passengers consulted at the Sant Vicenç and El Vendrell stations complained about not having received information in advance from the company. Although Renfe claims that the information campaign began on Thursday, users have said that they found out "by chance" through acquaintances or when they arrived at the station this Monday.
Like Isabel, a girl from Santa Margarita y los Monjes who takes the train to Sant Vicenç de Calders every Monday to go to the university in Coma-ruga at 9 am. Today she said that she left an hour early because just last night her classmates told her that there would be no train after 8 a.m. "It seems horrible to me that this lasts until August, and I have doubts that the buses will fit all the students who come to Coma-ruga," she noted.
Despite the complaints of the majority of those affected, other users have celebrated that the bus system improves the frequency of passage that the R4 trains usually have between Sant Vicenç and Vilafranca: each day there is only one train per hour and now they have a bus every 30 minutes.
"It affects me a lot because every day I go from El Vendrell to Vilafranca by train and now I will have to organize myself differently for seven months, but it seems like a good idea that there is a more frequent bus alternative," Daniel noted while waiting for the bus in El Vendrell, about 300 meters from the Renfe station.
In the case of this station, other users were protesting about, they said, poor signage when it came to knowing where the southbound buses stopped.
Another user who celebrated the best frequency is Carlos, although he was skeptical about compliance with the schedule every half hour. This passenger works in Vilafranca from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., so he must use the buses both on the way there and back. "Today I preferred to come earlier to see the schedules," he pointed out, while he criticized that he found out about the cut last night, when a station worker he has known for years notified him.
With the works that began this Monday, ADIF will install the third lane and implement mixed width on the general circulation routes, as well as on some separate roads. At the same time, it will adapt the configuration of the road scheme in L'Arboç so that the main roads are located on the outside, and it will enable a section road with mixed width in the central part. At this same station, a new underpass and two new platforms will be built, while mixed gauge access to a nearby industry will be enabled.
Other operations will consist of the adaptation of the overhead contact line, the installation of new track devices suitable for both gauges - international and Iberian - and the adaptation of traffic management systems and command control equipment, signaling and facilities. . Renfe points out that the works are co-financed by the 'Connecting Europe' Mechanism of the European Union (CEF).
