Spain’s Council of Ministers has approved the Royal Decree that regulates the direct granting of subsidies to the Generalitat de Catalunya to reinforce the financing of Catalonia commuter rail system. Under the decision, EUR 201.1 million are authorised to be transferred until 2026, of which a maximum of EUR 95.4 million will be paid this year.
In line with the commitment to improve the financing of the railway service, the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility (Mitma) is also working to transfer another EUR 283.4 million this year to compensate for the operating deficit of Rodalies in 2023. This payment is not included in this Royal Decree, since it is already included in the current general state budget and has another administrative route that is being worked on.
In total, between 2024 and 2026, Mitma will pay the Generalitat EUR 484.5 million for Catalonia commuter rail system.
The amounts accrued to date under the Action Plan during the years 2016 to 2023, in accordance with the specific conditions of the provision of services and the demand for these, and which the Generalitat must subsequently pay to Renfe. In addition, this plan also covers, together with the increases in the railway supply, the guarantee of security in stations and facilities or the fight against fraud.
The estimated total cost of this concept amounts to approximately EUR 191.5 million, which will be transferred to the Generalitat de Catalunya between 2024 and 2026, with the payment of EUR 90.9 million planned for this year.
The incremental services of Rodalies de Lleida (Lleida suburban railway network), as provided for in the contract between the Generalitat and Renfe, formalised on 7 February 2024, in order to promote the improvement of the railway services that connect Barcelona with the surrounding towns and provide this territory with a commuter rail service with adequate conditions of frequency and quality of the offer. Through the approved Royal Decree, the amount corresponding to the costs derived from the incorporation of improvements in the services of the LR3 line (Lleida – Cervera) and the LR4 line (Lleida – Manresa) will be transferred to the Generalitat so that, in turn, it can transfer them to Renfe.
EUR 8.69 million is the cost of the improvements and will be paid in two years of which EUR 3.57 million in 2024 and EUR 5.12 million in 2025.
The establishment of complementary actions to the Alternative Transport Plans (PAT) due to various incidents in the service that occurred in 2023. The provision of Rodalies services may be affected by external actions unrelated to the operation of the service itself, such as the execution of works to be undertaken on the infrastructure. These actions may affect the provision of services and require the execution of alternative transport plans, which include reinforcement of intercity road transport services subject to concessions granted by the Generalitat, as well as other alternative rail services.
To alleviate this, a total of just over EUR 900,000 is expected to be transferred to the Generalitat in 2024.
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