BarcelonaThis week the new Rodalies Catalunya has started walking. This joint venture between Renfe (State) and the Generalitat is a turning point in the transfer of Rodalies and represents a 180-degree change in railway management, which from now on will be run from Catalonia. All in all, the Minister of Territory – and now also president of the new company -, Sílvia Paneque, has already made it clear that “the changes will not be immediate”, but that the improvements should begin to be noticed as the new Rodalies team takes over its governance. Among the more than a hundred works underway, these are the main challenges that the network (and the new company) must face in 2026:
1
Launch of the new fleet of trains
During 2026, it is planned that the new high-capacity trains awarded to Rodalies de Catalunya will enter service after homologation and test processes (runs without passengers). These units, manufactured mainly by Alstom and intended for the Rodalies service, will be part of the expansion of the renewed fleet and are expected to start operating with passengers during 2026.
These are 110 electric trains that will replace some of the oldest, from 1990, which are already at the end of their useful life. They will have more seats, will be more accessible and will be equipped with the European ERMTS system, which improves safety. The revamp is expected to improve reliability and reduce incidents. In this context, sources in the sector point out that 24 of these trains will be used for Regional services and 14 for circulation along the Mediterranean Corridor.
2
New workshops and tracks
As part of the renewal and expansion of rolling stock, improvement works and the creation of new workshops are planned to accommodate, check and manage the new trains. There are advanced works in this regard in Ripoll and Vilanova i la Geltrú, agreements in Manresa and also improvements at the Montcada Bifurcació station, which is under construction and where a beach of tracks is being prepared to be able to divert and park trains with a scheme that facilitates the circulation of the rest.
3
R3: work (and cutting) to split the line continues
The works (and the cut) on the R3 will continue throughout 2026, for the project to split the line, between Parets del Vallès and la Garriga. The aim is to split the line, the only one that still runs on a single track in Catalonia. The cut, which began last fall, will last 16 months in total. During the next few months there is a key date, in May: at this time the works at Montcada Bifurcació (the first part of the cut) should be finished and the second phase should begin, which will cut traffic in the section between Mollet Santa Rosa and la Garriga. As long as this cut lasts, Renfe will maintain an alternative road plan.
4
R7: cuts until May
As a result of the works at the Montcada Bifurcation (due to the cutting of the R3), the R7 will not run between Barcelona – Fabra i Puig and Cerdanyola Universitat until May 2026 (when the Montcada works are expected to be finished). The cut started last November 2. An alternative road plan has also been established in this section.
5
Work continues to bury the R2 in Montcada
Work on the undergrounding of the R2 in Montcada continues and will also continue throughout 2026. It began two years ago, with a budget of more than 500 million euros, to build a four-kilometer tunnel, a new underground station and a third track to increase capacity and make the service more flexible. A second phase of the work began this January. These actions accumulate many years of delay since the project was conceived, and this 2025 some cracks in some buildings forced the project to be stopped and reviewed again.
6
The next big cut: that of the South R2
The one on the South R2 could be the next major partial railway cut. These are maintenance works for the Garraf tunnels through which the trains pass, which for years have been suffering from damage caused by corrosion caused by the humidity of the sea. In reality, there is currently no set start date yet, but Adif had initially scheduled the work for late last year or early 2026 and for a period of three months. It is not yet clear how exactly the work will be carried out. What is known is that during the actions the trains will run on a single track between Garraf and Vilanova i la Geltrú, which will reduce the offer between these stations and will force trains on lines R13, R14, R15, R16 and R17 towards Barcelona to be diverted through Vilafranca. To be able to consider the start of this work, it is essential, first, to have finished the road renewal work in Martorell.
7
R4: finish the renewal of lanes
Finishing the renovation of the lanes is the key to being able to move forward with the R2 Sud works. According to the latest published calendars, it is planned that the works on the R4, which have been ongoing since the third lane was built between Martorell and Sant Vicenç de Calders, will finish in March. The rails have been changed, which should improve the reliability of the line at this point and reduce incidents. It is important that the works finish at this point because it is where the Regionals will have to detour when work begins on the R2 South tunnels. Without this finished work, therefore, the other one (in R2 Sud) cannot be considered.
8
The burial continues in Sant Feliu de Llobregat
The undergrounding of the R4 tracks in Sant Feliu de Llobregat will continue to be one of the bottlenecks of the railway network in 2026. Currently, the work is well advanced, with more than 80% of the track buried, and structural work has begun on the new underground station. Although the last public announcements predicted the completion of these works in 2026, no date has been set at this time. The works intend to leave the railway tracks underground between the Pahissa stream and the Sanson road. This is a historical claim by the municipality that last year was splashed by the Cerdán case of alleged corruption in the awarding of public works.
9
Sants and La Sagrera: changes in the great Catalan resorts
Among the major works that will continue this year are also the changes to Sants and La Sagrera stations, the two major nodes of the Catalan network. In Sants – under transformation for more than two years -, the works should allow the redevelopment of Plaça dels Països Catalans to be completed and the concourses to be enlarged to offer better access to passengers. Later, the actions, which will last at least until 2030, will continue with the improvement of the superior infrastructure and commercial spaces.
In La Sagrera, the works are not expected to finish this year either. According to the latest published calendars, however, in 2026 some technical train parking areas could come into operation, which would serve to bring high-speed trains into this station, easing the burden on Sants. During 2026, the new Reus-Bellissens station is also scheduled to be put into operation.
10
Discussion and improvement of Avant services
The chaos in Rodalies has shot up the demand for Avant services, Renfe’s high-speed medium-distance service with regulated prices. It is a service that, in practice, works as an alternative – albeit more expensive – to conventional trains for regular passengers in Tarragona, Lleida and Girona, who have long been demanding improvements in frequencies and seats. There are already some improvement proposals on the table (adding more or longer trains) that the Ministry of Land has said it is studying and that could materialize this year.
Changes to the network operated by FGC
2026 will also be a year of changes for Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC). For years, the Generalitat has been preparing the Catalan operator to take over the ownership of the Rodalies de Lleida (RL3 and RL4). As the Spanish government representative in Lleida pointed out just a few days ago, the four new trains ordered for these lines will arrive in the summer, and FGC could manage these two lines this year. If confirmed, it would be a precedent that will serve to evaluate how proximity management works.
FGC’s other major milestone is the launch of the R-Aeroport, the shuttle train that will connect Barcelona with the two El Prat terminals. The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, assured last October that this line would come into operation at the end of 2026 or at the latest at the beginning of 2027.
Finally, in Barcelona, the L8 tunnel boring machine will also start drilling the subsoil of the Catalan capital. The aim is to build a large tunnel (between Plaça d’Espanya and Gràcia, passing through Clínic and Francesc Macià) that will connect the Llobregat-Anoia line with the Vallès line.
