Users of the Vic line have suffered constant delays since service was restored on Sunday, February 4 after four months of works. In the ten days since then, R3 trains have consistently run off schedule. Renfe itself recognizes daily delays of between 15 and 20 minutes on average and helplessness spreads among train drivers as it is impossible to comply with the schedules drawn by the railway infrastructure manager (Adif).
The cause is attributed to problems with the newly installed infrastructure in the 17 kilometer stretch between Parets del Vallès and La Garriga, where works have been carried out to prepare the future duplication of the road that should considerably improve the service of the R3 in the future. . The road between Les Franqueses and Granollers-Canovelles is the most critical point, where various incidents or malfunctions related to the newly installed signaling have been detected.
A period of testing to detect incidents in the facilities before restoring service could have saved travelers from the chronic delay in which they are installed. For this reason, the Generalitat, as owner of the service, has reproached Adif for delivering a project without guaranteeing that it can operate normally and demands solutions from both Adif and Renfe. The Territori department also suggests that when the second phase of the unfolding work is carried out, scheduled for this summer, preliminary tests be carried out before finishing the work.
