Times have changed in the Government's treatment of Rodalies, even if it's just the music. After the presentation in December of a new Rodalies Plan, with a planned investment of more than 6.3 billion euros until 2030, Renfe has taken another step in its commitment to improve railway service in Catalonia with the creation of a group of experts to advise it on its growth strategy.
The group of experts is made up of professionals from the field of mobility, but also from tourism and logistics, taking into account that Renfe aims to influence very diverse areas in the next ten years. Composed of eleven members, the presence of the director of Turisme de Barcelona, Marian Muro; the general director of Mercabarna, Jordi Valls; the director of Business Development of the Port de Barcelona, Emma Cobos; the chief of staff of the Presidency of Foment del Treball, Jordi Casas, or the director of the Infrastructure and Transport Research program of the Institut d'Economia de Barcelona, Anna Matas, stands out. Likewise, the coordinator of the Rodalies de Catalunya Plan, Pere Macias; the president of Renfe, Isaías Táboas, and the director of Rodalies de Catalunya, Mayte Castillo, will participate.
All of them will meet periodically and will have to evaluate the operator's decisions to make the Rodalies service more reliable and improve its punctuality, in addition to increasing the capacity and intermodality of the Catalan railway network. But they will also have to support Renfe in defining the strategic lines to boost other business lines by 2030, such as freight, which billed a total of 71 million euros in 2019. "It is the great pending issue we have," Táboas defended at Foment del Treball, where he presented the new Rodalies Plan and its strategy for Catalonia this Monday accompanied by Macias and Castillo.
Renfe's objective is to reach 150 million in freight turnover in 2030 in Catalonia, reinforcing the Mediterranean Corridor, dialogue with ports and its role as an integral logistics operator. On this last point, Táboas pointed out that they plan to take advantage of spaces they already have, such as the Can Tunis workshops, to store products.
Another leg of growth that the railway company wants to promote in Catalonia consists of attracting new passengers, going from the almost 411,000 registered in 2018 to 600,000 in 2030. This has to come both from the improvement of the Rodalies offer and from entering new markets. Specifically, they expect to add clients among international tourists visiting Barcelona and with the launch of AVLO.