The Ministry of Transport is no longer in the hands of a Catalan woman and is now led by a man from Valladolid, although the most difficult folder that will be found on the table speaks Catalan. The transfer of Rodalies to the Generalitat, as agreed by the PSOE and ERC in the investiture pact of Pedro Sánchez, is one of the biggest challenges that Óscar Puente has ahead of him.
In case you are not yet aware of the magnitude, you will realize this Friday, when Renfe staff throughout Spain will go on strike to protest against a transfer of the service in Catalonia that will be progressive and that will involve the subrogation of the Rodalies to a mixed company formed by the Government and the Generalitat.
In addition to strikes, numerous work meetings are expected in the coming months to translate the political agreement into technical concreteness. The Minister of Territori this Tuesday already requested the first meeting urgently in the letter she sent him congratulating him on her appointment. As there is no established calendar, the speed of the progressive transfer of powers will depend largely on the will shown by Puente and his team.
None of the names that will accompany him in the gigantic offices of Nuevos Ministerios are yet known, but the figure of an interlocutor with the Generalitat who will play the role that Xavier Flores has played as Secretary General of Infrastructures during the last two years will be essential. His figure, as a Catalan and above all as an in-depth knowledge of the Territori department, makes him a key player in addressing the complex transfer of Rodalies, although his continuity, like that of the rest of the members of the cabinet, is up in the air. with the change of minister. The presidents of Renfe (Raül Blanco) and Aena (Maurici Lucena) are also waiting for possible changes.
The El Prat airport is precisely another of the open fronts that the new head of the Transport portfolio has, who will now have to decide from a distance the future regarding the expansion of the infrastructure. It is one of the issues on which socialists and republicans committed to finding a consensual solution, just as for the construction of the B-40 (or northern ring road) between Sabadell and Terrassa.
The Government has also changed the name of the Transport portfolio and has taken advantage of the fact that it is derived from Housing and Urban Agenda to add the sustainable surname to mobility. A statement of intent that is reaffirmed by the legacy that Óscar Puente left during his eight years as mayor of Valladolid.
In the city through which the Pisuerga passes, an intense transformation of mobility and urban planning was carried out, exemplified by the construction of bicycle lanes where the only protagonist was the car and which are being reversed by the current municipal government of PP and Vox. Puente also modernized the municipal bus company, turning it into a mobility operator with a much broader outlook, including bike-sharing service and public parking.
This transversal view is what must be developed by the sustainable mobility law that the previous Executive had prepared and that the electoral advance prevented it from completing the parliamentary process. Once approved, it should illuminate, among other things, a new way of agreeing on the financing of public transport with city councils and autonomous communities.
Payment for the use of high-capacity roads, whether in toll or vignette format, is another hot potato that was postponed at the time in exchange for promises to Brussels regarding the development of railway highways and the promotion of freight transport in train that the Government must comply with.
