THE Spanish government and the Catalan regional government have formally approved the creation of Rodalies de Catalunya, a new publicly-owned company that will eventually take over the operation of commuter and regional services in Catalonia.

Spanish national operator Renfe will hold a 50.1% stake in the new company and the Catalan government 49.9%, leaving the door open to a greater Catalan shareholding in the future. Spain’s minister of transport and sustainable mobility, Óscar Puente, says joint ownership will bring management closer to the region, while maintaining national safety standards and coordination with the national network.

According to the timeline outlined by Puente, the company is expected to be legally constituted before the end of this year. Work to create the new organisation will begin in January 2026, with the aim of becoming fully operational over the course of next year. However, the effective transfer of operations will not begin until 2027, once the new company has obtained an operating licence and safety certificate.

In practical terms, this means that Renfe will continue to operate services and Adif will remain responsible for infrastructure management for the time being. Employees will retain their current terms and conditions of employment under Renfe collective agreements.

The new company will be governed by a nine-member board, comprising five representatives appointed by the Catalan government and four by Renfe. The company will be chaired by Sílvia Paneque, Catalonia’s minister for territory, housing and ecological transition, while Òscar Playà, currently metro director at Barcelona public transport operator TMB, will serve as CEO.

As part of the agreement, a new joint Rodalies control centre staffed by Adif and Renfe is due to open at Barcelona França station before this summer, with a particular focus on improving coordination and supporting long-planned projects.

Catalan officials argue that the new structure will enable more responsive local day-to-day management of services that have long suffered from delays, reliability issues and user dissatisfaction. Paneque has acknowledged the scale of the challenge, cautioning that expectations should be realistic. “We are not promising miracles,” she says, “but responsibility.”

EIB finance

Last month the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Renfe signed a €250m loan agreement to finance the purchase of 101 EMUs for the Rodalies fleet. This is the first tranche of a €500m loan approved by the EIB.

The new EMUs will replace trains in service since 1990 and now at the end of their working life. The new fleet will increase capacity from 830 passengers per train to between 900 and 1800 per train, with high-capacity EMUs to be deployed on the Barcelona commuter network and other trains on medium-distance and regional services. The new trains will be equipped with ETCS.

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