The agreement reached between the Generalitat and the Ministry of Transport for infrastructures of Catalonia as part of the budget pact between Socialists and Republicans allocates 20 million to the construction of two rail interchanges between Rodalies and Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat (FGC) stations in El Vallès .
The role of the protocol supports everything but the reality is very different. It is not intended to make a simple corridor between the stations of Hospital General (FGC) and Rubí (Rodalies) or between Volpelleres (FGC) and Sant Cugat Coll Favà (Rodalies). At the two points where you want to build an interchange that facilitates the interconnection between the rail networks, there is an enormous distance and the difficulties along the way are multiple.
The Government’s first step is to commission a functional study in which possible solutions are determined through technical work commissioned by the railway infrastructure manager (Adif). Then it will be the Generalitat who draws up the project and executes the works with the corresponding investment transferred by the Ministry of Transport.
Sources familiar with the technical difficulties warn that one of the most feasible solutions to the problem is to move the stations to bring one closer to the other or even build a new one, although the solution will not be the same for the two interchanges, each one will be adapted to the specific situation. Depending on the type of work that has to be carried out, the investment will amount to well above the 20 million euros initially planned.
In the case of the Volpelleres station (which forms part of the FGC Sabadell line) and the Sant Cugat Coll Favà station (of the R8 Rodalies), the construction of new accesses and the extension of the Rodalies platforms would bring somehow the station to the point where it intersects with FGC. This would make it possible to end the long detour that now exceeds 10 minutes through a totally soulless area with no shade in which to take shelter during the day and with very poor and gloomy lighting at night.
More complex is the case of Hospital General (on the FGC Terrassa line) and the Rubí stop (also on the R8 Rodalies line). The AP-7 motorway separates one from the other, located more than a kilometer away. An excursion that takes more than a quarter of an hour to get around the border and that discourages anyone who wants to bet on public transport. Here it is very likely that the most logical option would be the construction of a new station that serves Rodalies travelers next to the health center where the FGC trains now stop.
The construction of the two new interchanges is part of the package of 914 million euros of investments that will be carried out through management orders from the Government to the Generalitat, as well as the transformation of the N-II and some of the new accesses of the AP- 7. If 20 million are allocated for the interchanges, an investment of 250 million is planned for the motorway links to act on a total of 16 points, of which seven will be new and nine already exist and will be considerably improved. Notable among them is the road junction where the AP-7, the B-30, the C-58 and the N-150 highway straddle Barberà del Vallès, Cerdanyola and Ripollet. Congestion in this place is recurring, as is the case at the connection between the C-60 de la Roca and the B-30 at the height of Cerdanyola, as well as the entrances to Girona both to the north and to the south.
