The modernization and renovation of the Cercanías and Rodalies fleet to improve service is closer. The first trains manufactured by Alstom in Santa Perpètua de Mogoda will undergo the necessary tests and validations this year to be able to operate, with the forecast that they will come into service in 2026 both in Catalonia and in other areas at a state level.
The nearly 200 new convoys for the entire network will be gradually added to the service. With a capacity of 905 people, the new trains have wider doors and vehicles than the current ones, which will allow for a 20% increase in capacity and agility in passenger entry and exit and, therefore, in service.
Specifically, three trains will begin these homologation tests in the coming weeks. Two of them are being manufactured at the Alstom plant; the other is already finished and has completed the necessary tests and validations to undertake the homologation phase, essential for providing commercial service.
Catalonia will incorporate a total of 101 new trains in the coming years, with 49 manufactured by AlstomThis was detailed by the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, when visiting this first unit already manufactured. Together with the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the President of Renfe, Raül Blanco, Puente explained that the tests will be carried out on the Rodalies network,in which it will be certified that the new rolling stock meets the necessary requirements.
"Throughout 2025, the certification process will be completed, and Alstom will be able to begin series production of the remaining 198 trains," highlighted Puente, who advanced that the intention is for the first units to enter service in 2026. The order for the 201 new trains represents the largest rolling stock purchase contract in the history of state-level railways, totaling 1.8 billion euros. To this, we add those awarded to Stadler, with 79 units, and to CAF, with more than 130, for nearly 1 billion each, in order to renew the fleets of Cercanías, Rodalies, Media Distancia, and metric gauge.
Two new trains per week
With these three orders, the railway network will incorporate two new trains each week —of these, Alstom will deliver between three and four units per month—. In total, with the three contracts, 101 units will be allocated to modernize Catalonia's fleet. Of these, 69 will be for Rodalies —with 49 from Alstom and 20 from Stadler— and 32 for Media Distancia, manufactured by CAF.
The Ministry has invested 850 million euros until November in Catalonia, with half for RodaliesThe Alstom trains, of the 452 series, will allow for a more agile network operationnot only for their greater capacity, but also because they will be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment that will collect data to provide real-time information to facilitate operational decision-making. The convoys, which will be able to travel at speeds of up to 140 kilometers per hour, will include double-decker vehicles and will also have Wi-Fi and guaranteed accessibility.
"Rodalies is not a train network, it is a network of people in motion, of daily flows. The works and the trains are not an end in themselves; they are the instruments to provide a public service and protect a basic right such as mobility," Puente defended. In this regard, he detailed that the Ministry has invested more than 850 million euros in Catalonia until November, and one out of every two euros invested has been allocated to improving Rodalies.
This investment has allowed works to be started on all lines of the network and 18 studies to be in the drafting phase, which will materialize over the next few months. In parallel, the transfer of Rodalies to the Generalitat is progressing, of which Illa has assured that "steps forward" will be seen as early as this January.
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