It rains and wets in R3. One of the most historically neglected commuter lines, the one that connects Puigcerdà with l’Hospitalet de Llobregat and which suffered four months of traffic cuts between Mollet-Santa Rosa and Figaró due to the duplication of the track, now only needed more problems due to cable theft on Sunday.
In the morning rush hour, between seven and nine yesterday, there was an hour and a half delay in traffic between Parets del Vallès and Barcelona. And the majority of users, like stoics trained in the art of waiting, patiently assumed the marathon of transfers until they reached their destination. Maribel Tomillo, administrator of a dermatological clinic in Barcelona, ??arrived at the Parets station shortly before 8 in the morning. The previous train to Barcelona had left at 7:20. Renfe announced on its website that on line R3 “there are two trains per hour and in each direction”, but, unfortunately, yesterday it was not fulfilled to Barcelona, ??since the next convoy stopped almost at 9. Maribel, along with two other neighbors , Olga Gómez and Montserrat Rodríguez, traveled to Ripollet-Montcada, where the line ends, and boarded one of the shuttles enabled by Renfe to Fabra i Puig. He arrived around 9:20 and continued with the L-1 metro to Plaza Catalunya and there he changed to the FGC to take the L-7 stopping at Putxet and walk a few minutes to Balmes, with Kennedy, where he works. Despite being well informed, she was unable to combat the delays. “I have consulted the app, but it has been of no use because the schedules are not met. I’ve been there since before 8 because I come in at 9:45. The doctor and nurse cannot work if I do not attend the visits. Yesterday (Monday) I already arrived at 10 and today I will arrive much later,” she lamented.
Most users approached the station to check if there was a train, what schedules it had… A young Renfe operator assisted them with kindness, but with limited information. Through the public address system, they continually announced the transfer in Ripollet-Montcada. Those who did not have a car had few alternatives. According to some neighbors, “since the beginning of May, Sagalés has reduced the frequency and buses to Barcelona. Yes or yes, we have to go by train and hold on,” protested Olga Gómez, who had to open a business in Horta at 10 and she already saw that she did not arrive on time. Noa Martínez, 16 years old, had a meeting at 10 about an Erasmus in Portugal, in Plaza Catalunya. She thought that the trains reached Catalonia. “Aaaah, aren’t they coming?” she asked, surprised. They ended up calling a friend to take them to Barcelona.
Montserrat Rodríguez works at the Egyptian Museum, at the reception and attending school visits. “I go in at 10 and luckily today (yesterday) I don’t have children and I feel calmer. But if this lasts two months as they are saying, it will be very difficult to meet the schedules.” Olga Gómez agreed with him and reasoned that “companies will not be able to endure so many delays if the service continues to be so deficient. “Let them give us alternative buses, like when they cut the roads to do the splitting,” she proposed. Maribel Tomillo went further: “If this chaos continues, I’m considering staying the night at my sister’s house in Barcelona,” she said very seriously.
After more than an hour of waiting, the train arrived at nine. There were free seats. The passengers, apparently calm, until they are asked. Irene, Liz and Betty had gone up in Canovelles. The first two went to Cerdanyola del Vallès to take care of two elderly people. The third, to a visit to the doctor, for tendonitis, in Barcelona. “We have already warned that we will arrive around 10, instead of 9. Once in Fabra i Puig we have to take another bus to Cerdanyola del Vallès. It doesn’t matter if we get up early. The trains do not run two an hour, as announced.” Liz was confident that the doctor would treat her without problems.
In the other direction, from Fabra i Puig to Granollers, the day did not start very well for Paqui Muñoz, a clothing employee in the capital of Vallesana. She enters at 6:30 and “as she knew about the Renfe problem, she had been waiting for the train in Ripollet-Montcada since 5:30 in the morning. She had to leave at 6, but she ended up leaving at 6:50. We’re going to have to hold demonstrations or something because we won’t be able to bear this anymore. It’s frustrating. What will they tell me at work? Stay longer to make up for the lost hour,” she pointed out, hurt and fed up.
After 10 o’clock, also in the same direction, the lawyer Urko Aguirre got on the Fabra i Puig bus, heading to the Granollers courts, after a journey. “I have a trial at 12 and I left l’Hospitalet at 8.45, I took the L-1 metro to Fabra i Puig and there I got on the shuttle bus to the station. I have a car, but I am a regular user of public transportation. There has been a bit of a mess, but I think I will arrive on time,” he announced, intuitively.
