Rodalies punctuality fell below 10% during the disruption, while more than half of trains were suppressed. Renfe has agreed to restore the service schedules used before 1 November, changing where drivers can begin their shifts. The agreement, reached with several unions on 14 November, came after a week of severe operational problems.
The agreement allows drivers to start at the usual termini of their lines, or at intermediate stations, instead of being required to travel first to Barcelona-Sants. Renfe had introduced that arrangement after SEMAF broke agreements on schedules and shifts on 1 November, reverting to statutory service diagrams that treated Sants as the reference workplace. The system left drivers less readily available at the points where trains were due to start. El País reported that the revised arrangements were communicated roughly 72 hours before taking effect on Saturday 7 November.
UGT and CCOO said most of the works council supported a temporary return to the previous schedules while negotiations continued on a new system organised by lines and staff residences. SEMAF, the largest union among drivers, opposed the introduction of those residences. Renfe had initially refused to sign an agreement without SEMAF’s backing, but ultimately accepted the return to the previous system and the residence agreements. The restored timetable was due to take effect on Sunday 15 November; the arrangement did not resolve the longer-term disagreement over how shifts should be organised.
The agreement followed a change at the top of Renfe. On 13 November, the Council of Ministers dismissed Álvaro Fernández Heredia as president and appointed Inmaculada Gutiérrez Carrizo, previously head of Renfe’s international-projects subsidiary, as his successor. The leadership change came after the Urda train accident in Toledo on 28 October and the drivers’ strike on 10 November. The same government reshuffle appointed Joaquim Hortalà i Vallvé as president of Adif, replacing Luis Pedro Marco de la Peña, who had resigned earlier that week. The dismissal came after questions over rail leadership had been reported in an earlier account.
The schedules agreement is temporary and does not settle the labour dispute. A further Renfe strike remained scheduled for Tuesday 17 November. UGT and CCOO want negotiations to produce a lasting arrangement tailored to the lines and workers’ residences.
