AP-7 Closure: Traffic Disruption Until Saturday

The slope of the expressway protecting the R4 line from Rodalies gave way, possibly due to the accumulation of water from recent rains, and fell against the convoy. At first, only the right lane of the area close to the accident was cut, but then it was agreed with the ministry to restrict about 10 kilometers due to the instability of the terrain and to help with the removal of the injured convoy, which were carried out this Thursday.

The accident also forced the suspension of the Rodalies service and, in the absence of trains, the private car has not been an option. At least if you take into account that during the morning rush hour, 6.5% fewer vehicles have entered the metropolitan area than a year ago, according to Lamiel, who has appreciated the fact that drivers have taken heed of the alternatives proposed to avoid cutting the AP-7 between Martorell and Sant Sadurní d’Anoia in the south direction.

One of these alternatives is the C-32, the Garraf motorway which has raised tolls, and has had an 85% increase in usual traffic. During the first hour there were delays and slow traffic on the A-2 – where up to eighteen kilometers of delays have accumulated between Cornellà de Llobregat and Martorell in the direction of Barcelona–, the C-31 and the C-15, but for much of the day they absorbed the vehicles that normally take the AP-7 without further problems.

“No train? If they said yes yesterday”

After a Wednesday without trains, many of the regular users went to sleep with the news that Rodalies was resuming the service from this Thursday at 6 am. But at the time of truth, the trains have remained at a standstill and the Government’s prophecy that it would be a “complicated” day was fulfilled in another day in which travelers had to find alternatives to move.

“There is no train? If they said yes”, lamented Naiara Gálvez, surprised to see the unusually empty Martorell Central de Rodalies station. Kindly, the Renfe informant directed him to the FGC station so he could catch a train to Barcelona. In fact, the photograph in Martorell illustrates the day of the failed resumption of service: Rodalies stopped, normality at FGC and delays on alternative buses due to the cut of the AP-7.

Although the Government announced on Wednesday that the bus service to alleviate the shutdown in Rodalies would be from Martorell to Vilafranca, the vehicles go to the end of the Sant Vicenç de Calders line, passing through most of the intermediate stations. The vehicles are stepped on and two arrive in five minutes, while Mohamed el Kari complains that he has been waiting for one for more than an hour in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia. Once in Martorell run to enter the FGC station in the direction of Sant Esteve Sesrovires. “I don’t know when I’ll get home, yesterday some friends had to come pick me up, they don’t have any consideration for those of us who work.”

One person gets out of one of the vehicles and five from the other, but even buses have left completely empty of passengers because the users have already “learned to look for a life”, replies Ester Garcia, who goes to the UAB. Renfe has set up a road service to replace the R8, which has been suspended for days. Àlex has finished work in Rubí before 10 o’clock and at 12 he arrives in Martorell on one of these buses with the aim of reaching Vilanova i la Geltrú. “They told me to come here and take another bus to Vilafranca and there I hope to find a way to go home,” he says quite calmly. “We have a lot of patience, but it also ends”, replies another user who, tired of waiting, has found a car to take her to Molins de Rei.

Reinforcement informers try to calm the spirits and despair of the travelers. “This morning they told us everything, but we are not to blame for what is happening, we can only guide them to the FGCs,” says one of the professionals in an empty station where the public address system does work warning that there are no trains in circulation.