The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has demanded explanations from Alstom for the delay in the delivery of the new Rodalies trains, some convoys that, according to the initial schedule, should already be circulating through the Catalan network.
Puente has maintained that the company "must give an explanation to Catalan society" given a delay that affects a key part of the renewal of the railway service. If the foreseen deadlines had been met, by now 70 of the 111 trains included in the contract would have already been delivered.
Delays in manufacturing and validation
The delays are attributed to problems in the manufacturing process and also in the validation of the convoys. That situation has left out of time an operation that should have allowed to progressively incorporate the new trains into Rodalies.
The contract includes 111 trains and, according to the initial planning, a very significant part of that fleet should already be in service. The deviation from that schedule is what has led the Ministry to demand a public clarification from the manufacturer.
Approval expected as of April
Alstom expects to present this month of April the necessary documentation for the homologation of the trains before the State Railway Safety Agency. That step is indispensable before authorizing their entry into commercial circulation.
The homologation process will last approximately four months. Afterwards, it will still be necessary to complete the training of drivers, another of the prior procedures to be able to incorporate the new convoys into ordinary service.
First trains, at the beginning of next year
With that calendar on the table, the Ministry's objective is that the first trains enter service at the beginning of next year, once both the homologation and the operational preparation phases have been overcome.
In parallel, the process of transferring Rodalies to the Generalitat continues to advance, although for now no dates have been specified. Meanwhile, the arrival of the new trains remains pending for the manufacturer to complete the procedures and clarify the reasons for a delay that accumulates months over what was planned.