Today, and for the second day, users of the Renfe suburban trains in Malaga find themselves, by mistake, with messages on the screens of the railway facilities in Catalan and with the logo of Rodalies, the company that manages this service in Catalonia. Such has been the commotion that has arisen in this regard that the PP of Malaga has demanded that the Government explain what has happened so that the language on the machines can be changed.
As Renfe pointed out yesterday, there had been a failure in the workshop that caused the information signs on line C1 to not only appear written in this language, but also make reference to the stage of the Covid pandemic. At the time this error was detected, and after the train that covers the route between Fuengirola and the capital of Malaga arrived at its destination, it was automatically corrected.
The change in language has caused users traveling on this first commuter train to have to suddenly stretch out to confirm that they were still in Malaga and that they were not going to make any stops in any municipality in Catalonia. But what for some has remained a mere anecdote, for others, such as the members of the Malaga PP, is an offense to the citizens of the province.
For Mario Cortés, national deputy of the PP in Malaga, this error goes far beyond a simple programming error. For the popular, the fact that the information has been loaded on the advertising screens and services of the Catalan trains, instead of those that correspond to Andalusia, is an example of how the Government of Spain “laughs” at the people of Malaga, he explained in a note consulted by this newspaper.
The deputy regretted the “gradual degeneration of the province’s railway services” as he highlighted the “transfer of funds” to Rodalies. “In addition to taking investments to Catalonia, does the Government intend to laugh at the people of Malaga?” questioned Cortés, who reported that the Popular Group has registered a written question in Congress to clarify this fact.
The national deputy for the Malaga PP has also asked the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, for explanations, reminding him that “he must also account for the use of used parts to repair Malaga trains, which are increasingly devalued and suffer constant breakdowns. , cancellations and delays due to lack of investment and maintenance, while the Executive irrigates the railway network of Catalonia with 6.3 billion euros.” In addition, he has denounced that the Executive “has dismantled” the Los Prados workshops in the last five years, “also confirming in writing the continued reduction of personnel, both in the Comprehensive Maintenance Base and in those of the AVE and the Cercanías, passing from 203 employees in 2018 to 162 in 2023,” he detailed.
For all this, he explained, “we are not going to stay with the anecdote, because if something is not funny it is the abandonment that the Malaga trains suffer due to the lack of investment and maintenance by the Government, which does irrigate the train with funds. Catalan Rodalies while those from Malaga suffer every day from delays, cancellations, breakdowns and even accidents, as we saw last December in El Chorro.”
As it could not be otherwise, social networks have also echoed this situation, although in a less belligerent way. One of the area’s suburban defenders, Paco Moya, shared the images of the screens that he found both yesterday and today, specifically at the Torremolinos station, where you can see the indications in Catalan. Maintaining a safe distance or avoiding rush hours are some of the recommendations that have been shared this morning with passengers.
