Rodalies journeys between Lleida and Barcelona are now about 20 minutes slower than 26 years ago, both on the coastal line and on the itinerary via Manresa, in a context marked by speed limitations and a network that drags capacity and infrastructure problems.
On the coast line, which groups services R13 and R14, the journey between Lleida and Barcelona currently takes 148 minutes. 26 years ago, that same route was covered in 128 minutes. The difference is explained in part by the speed restrictions that remain in force due to the poor state of the infrastructure.
More travel time on the connection along the coast
The comparison between the official timetables of the year 2000 and those of November 2025 reflects this worsening of travel times. That reference of November 2025 is also situated just before the recent railway crisis that still affects the Catalan network.
Adrià Ramírez, president of the Association for the Promotion of Public Transport, summarizes one of the changes in the rail offer.
"There are more trains that stop at all stops" - Adrià Ramírez, president of the Associació per a la Promoció del Transport Públic
Ramírez also maintains that the network's capacity has not grown and points out that semi-direct convoys take longer or have directly disappeared.
The route through Manresa goes up to three and a half hours
The situation does not improve on the Manresa line either. On the RL4, the journey between Lleida and Terrassa lasts 2 hours and 20 minutes, according to union sources. To that time, another 51 minutes must be added until Barcelona. The result is a total journey of three and a half hours between Lleida and Barcelona.
In this line, at least 20 additional minutes are added due to speed limitations. The current route thus exceeds the time of the old R12, which already took more than three hours.
The deterioration of the infrastructure in this corridor is not new. In 2014, the poor condition of the roads caused traffic in some sections to move at only 5 km/h in places like Granyanella.
Deficit of investment and loss of semi-directs
Joan Carles Salmerón, director of the Centre for Transport Studies, attributes these travel times to the lack of investment. He also defends the recovery of semi-direct trains as one of the formulas to shorten journeys.
"New overtaking lanes" - Joan Carles Salmerón, director of the Centre d"Estudis del Transport
Salmerón considers that this type of infrastructure would allow fast convoys to arrive at their destination sooner than those that stop at all stations. As long as no action is taken on the network, the connections between Lleida and Barcelona will continue to be slower today than at the beginning of the century.