The Executive of Isabel Díaz Ayuso has reiterated this Wednesday that it has no intention of taking charge of the Cercanías train services in Madrid, after the criticisms from the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, whom he blames for a "lamentable management" and the lack of investment in this railway network.
The counselor of Housing, Transport and Infrastructures of the Community of Madrid, Jorge Rodrigo, has insisted on this refusal after Puente's statements, who accused the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, of complaining about the operation of Cercanías but not wanting to take on its management.
In an interview granted to Europa Press, the minister expressed his willingness to study that option following the advances in the transfer of Rodalies (the Cercanías of Catalonia) to the Generalitat. He also recalled that he had already proposed a similar transfer to both Ayuso and the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, in light of the repeated criticisms from both regarding the state management of these trains. "They complain but they don't want it," he stated.
"We have no ambition to monopolize services that are local. As long as there is no such request, we will continue working on the local services of this country, trying to improve them," he added in the same conversation with Europa Press.
In response, Jorge Rodrigo emphasized that the regional Executive is not willing for the citizens of the Community of Madrid to "pay out of their own pockets" for the "lamentable management and lack of investment" of the Transport minister. "The people of Madrid deserve a quality service and the Sánchez government must assume its responsibilities," he wrote in a message published on his personal account on the social network X.
In that same message, the counselor recalls that Puente himself stated two years ago, "with enormous arrogance and ignorance," that the train was going through the best moment in its history. However, he has pointed out that since then the Cercanías network in Madrid "exceeds 3,000 incidents," which, in his opinion, demonstrates the deterioration of the service.