Temporary weather in Catalonia causes delays and cuts in the AVE, Rodalies and flights in Barcelona

"From 12:48 p.m., once the repair work on the catenary in Sant Vicenç dels Horts has been completed, the trains on the Madrid - Barcelona high-speed line begin to circulate." This is the message that Adif published on social networks after the storm that kept Catalonia on alert this Wednesday had forced the manager to temporarily cut the line due to a breakdown that affected the electricity supply between Sant Vicenç dels Horts and El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona).

The interruption was initially scheduled to last an estimated two hours and began at 11:00 a.m. However, around 8:15 a.m. Adif was already warning of incidents in the electricity supply and insisted that its staff was working to solve the incident "as soon as possible."

All of this has led to train delays of up to an hour on average, and as the Ministry of Transport already explained, these could increase throughout the day if the fault is not repaired as soon as possible. "Circulation tends to normalize," explains Adif on its website.

After the cut, the trains leaving for Madrid continued to Zaragoza with delays. And trains leaving from Barcelona delayed their departure, while those bound for Barcelona remained stopped at stations on the line, Adif reports.

This Wednesday's incident is still a specific incident: Adif and Transport explain that the damage to the catenary is due to the effects of the storm on the infrastructure. But the Spanish High Speed ​​has started the school year maintaining its incidents, which force the application of Temporary Speed ​​Limits (LTV) and, therefore, accumulate delays in the journeys. This week Adif foresees up to 81 LTVs, of which the majority (38) are concentrated on line 050 that connects Madrid, Barcelona and the French Border, and where the trains may be forced to reach their rhythm at 30 kilometers per hour in different sections (the usual average rhythm is 300 kilometers per hour), according to the manager's programming to which this medium has had access.

On the other hand, the Rodalies network is not immune to the problems, which, as Catalan users have been denouncing for some time, is a constant in this service. This Wednesday, Adif communicates delays on the Rodalies R2 line due to an incident that affects the signaling between Sitges and Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona), and also highlights that a cable theft between Vila-seca and Reus (Tarragona) causes delays in the trains that circulate on the Tarragona-Reus section.

Incidents on flights in Barcelona

The critical situation left by the storms in Catalonia also causes havoc on flights. Early this morning, the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport registered 30 flight cancellations, and two diversions to Madrid.

The airport, which has a total of 1,036 operations planned for this Wednesday, is progressively recovering activity as reported by Aena on its social networks, although it warns that everything will depend on the evolution of the rains. For its part, Enaire has also intervened to regulate operations and maintain the necessary separation between aircraft.

Not everything is in transport: given the alert due to heavy rainfall, the Generalitat had already agreed today to restrict mobility, apply teleworking and suspend outdoor educational and sports activities in the regions of Baix Llobregat - where the airport is located -, Vallès Occidental, Garraf y Alt and Baix Penedès due to the risk of heavy rains.