Nandou Diedhiou is a 21-year-old young man with a disability. Cheerful and talkative, he is a great bocchia player, medalist and champion of state-level competitions in this sport. This course started another challenge: undertaking his studies in graphic arts. A double challenge, since at this age the aim is to enhance the autonomy of people like him and he goes to class alone. To do this, he must go every day from Molins de Rei to Barcelona by train. And if hundreds of users of the Rodalies R4 line, currently undergoing major works that affect its performance, lament the lack of reliability of the service, Nandou's journey can be described as an odyssey.
“This Renfe thing is not easy at all,” warns Nandou. The first obstacle is in its municipality, whose historic station – it is one of the oldest in Catalonia in service – is not accessible. That is, there are no elevators to cross from one platform to another. That means that every day, when he returns home around four in the afternoon, he is forced to cross the tracks at a level crossing.
By regulation, it is not allowed to use this type of system if there is an alternative, such as the existing stairs at this stop. However, Renfe sources recall that "in case of need" like that of Nandou, "security personnel will accompany people with reduced mobility." The young man has no complaints about the attention given to him by the staff at the Molins de Rei station. “They are nice,” he describes. But he reports that the problem is that sometimes, just when he returns from class, no one is there.
Nandou says that to get to his Barcelona educational center he should get off at Fabra i Puig. But again he runs into the same thing. “It's not accessible and I have to stop in Sagrera,” he says.
Inside the trains the situation is not always as it should be either. At the beginning of the course, the young man bought a new wheelchair precisely to have more agility and safety when it comes to getting on and off the train. But “the height of the door sometimes causes problems.”
Nandou recounts some “distressing situations.” “On trains, sometimes the button to open the door has not worked for me,” he recalls. On one occasion he was forced to “block” the convoy by pulling the emergency lever. “I didn't want to go to El Papiol,” he says. He also says that sometimes the elevator to enter the lobby of Molins de Rei, which is new, does not work.
Renfe sources point out that the new 101 trains that are currently being manufactured “have been designed to be fully accessible for people with wheelchairs or baby strollers, with ample space for them.”
Renfe is also investing to make the stations accessible, but the works sometimes get complicated. The town of Nandou is a good example. After years of demands, the work to make the Molins de Rei station 100% accessible with elevators had to begin in 2019. But after a first delay, the company that won the public tender by presenting an offer to the low resigned from the contract. Everything came to a standstill.
The project was put out to tender again and work started last year. But months later the machines stopped due to a modification to the project. The works are expected to be completed at the end of the year. Meanwhile, Renfe promised a second access to the station on the other side of the classic entrance, which is also necessary and expected by the neighbors. But all this time Nandou must also endure the logical constraints of a half-renovated station, such as narrow corridors to get to the point where he must cross the tracks.
“If everything works well, I don't have any problems,” he says stoically. But he thinks that “things should be easier.” “We need public transportation!” Nandou concludes. His story could be that of so many other people with disabilities who move around Rodalies every day.
