Catalonia will take Adif to court to force investment in Rodalies
Josep Rull, Minister for Territory and Sustainability, says the current situation is "unacceptable" and signs joint declaration by municipalities.
BarcelonaJosep Rull, Catalonia’s Minister for Territory and Sustainability, announced on Monday that he will file an appeal for judicial review before Spain’s National High Court against Adif, to compel the railway operator to make the investments that it had promised in the Catalan railway network. In a press conference he called the current situation "unacceptable". The Catalan government intends to lodge the appeal in October.
On Monday, Rull signed a joint declaration by Catalonia’s municipalities, together with Janet Sanz, Barcelona´s Deputy Mayor for the Environment, Urban Planning, and Mobility, Rosa Maria Perelló, Vice-president of the Catalan Association of Municipalities (ACM), and Laura Camps, Vice-president of the Catalan Federation of Municipalities.
The Minister based the lodging of the appeal on Adif´s compliance with the Generalitat’s previous injunction, filed last June: "Unless they respond earlier, we have three months to appeal”. The injunction urges Adif to deliver on the amount owed of 4 billion euros, agreed upon for the 2009-2015 period, and €306 million for the period 2014-2016.
Only today the lack of investment in the Catalan railway network resulted in a new incident on the R16 Line, where 250 passengers were trapped in a train between Ametlla and Vandellòs for nearly three hours.
