The Popular Party yesterday presented a proposal in the Congress of Deputies to urge the Spanish Government to change the name of the Barcelona-Sants train station, adding Montserrat Caballé to it, thus paying homage to the soprano.
The reason behind this proposal lies in the announcement made two months ago by the Minister of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez. In her statement, the minister pointed out that throughout this year the Government would change the name of the main train stations of the national railway network to pay tribute to women of special relevance or prestige: "We will assign names of women to the main stations of the country, in a gesture loaded with symbolism to remember the names of women that history has made invisible on many occasions," said the minister.
Coinciding with the news, the Government named the Atocha station in Madrid after the writer Almudena Grandes. Previously, he had decided that the Málaga station would be renamed María Zambrano to remember one of the great Spanish philosophers; the Burgos station was renamed Rosa Manzano, the first civil governor; and the Segovia station was dedicated to Guiomar to honor the muse of Antonio Machado.
The same has happened in the case of relevant men: the Barajas airport has been named since 2018 after Adolfo Suárez and the Barcelona airport after Josep Tarradellas.
In the case of Sants station, the PP argues that Montserrat Caballé was recognized worldwide as "the voice of the Liceu" or "the voice of Barcelona" for being one of the best sopranos in history and one of the people who most talent and strength spread the name of the city. This idea was further reinforced when, before the 1992 Olympic Games, Freddie Mercury, leader of Queen, decided to sing the Barcelona song with her for being "the best voice of all human beings," he said.
The Popular Party adds that "it is much more than recognition of a universal Catalan; it is a commitment to a certain vision of Barcelona and Catalonia: cosmopolitan, tolerant, bright and open to the world."
