The criticisms of the Cercanías service do not understand left or right. They transcend any territory. And if they are not criticisms of the quality of the service, it is the lack of development of the network or its absence in territories like Galicia, where the network barely has reach.
The latest response from the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, to the criticisms received from regional governments of the Popular Party has been to invite to follow the examples of Catalonia and the Basque Country and take over the management.
The minister assured in an interview granted to Europa Press that he proposed the transfer both to the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and to the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, but that neither of them picked up the gauntlet: “They complain but they don’t want it.”
If they ask for it, it’s theirs
Puente takes a step further and implies that it is the regional administrations that should take charge of the service and that its management by the Ministry responds solely to the lack of willingness of the communities to take over the management of Cercanías.
“We have no ambition to monopolize services that are local. As long as there is no such request, we will continue working on the Cercanías of this country, trying to improve them,” asserted the Minister of Transport.
The Catalan case
In the debate about the management of Cercanías, the protagonism is undoubtedly Catalan. The quality of Rodalies is a hot issue in this community and a constant object of political struggle. Practically every major agreement between ERC and PSOE at the state level has included elements regarding this.
The last major agreement, to culminate the integral transfer of the service to the Generalitat, in a process that began fifteen years ago.
And it is that the management of the service was already transferred in 2010, in a transfer that included regulation, planning, coordination, and tariff authority.
The transfer currently underway concerns the ownership of the infrastructures and that the service operator becomes Rodalies de Catalunya SME, a mixed company participated by the Generalitat and Renfe, with a majority of the latter.
The ‘forgotten’ case
Catalonia is not the only community with transferred management competencies. The Government agreed in 2024 with the Basque Country to transfer the regulation, planning, management, coordination, inspection, and tariffs of the service.
The transfer is not comprehensive. The ownership of the infrastructures, in any case, remains with the State. Renfe continues providing the service and the existing contract between the State and Renfe was transferred to the Basque Government, being effective from 2025.
Who else has requested to assume competencies?
The debates surrounding the quality of the service have spurred discussions in not a few communities about whether to assume the competencies.
And not only in recent years. The Community of Madrid even proposed to take over the management before the financial crisis, under the government of Esperanza Aguirre. Despite having the support of the PSOE in the Assembly at that time, it did not materialize.
The debates have occurred in other regional chambers, such as in Andalusia, Asturias, Aragon, or the Valencian Community.
In Andalusia, the PSOE defended in 2024 in Parliament to assume the competencies, a proposal supported by Adelante Andalucía. Initially, the PP did not reject the proposal but wanted to condition it to a prior transfer of funds and the improvement of services. An amendment that the PSOE rejected to incorporate into the initiative, which was ultimately rejected.
Where a proposal to demand the transfer was approved was in Les Corts Valencianes in 2018, with votes from Compromís, PSPV, and Podemos, and the vote against from the PP.
The Aragonese case is similar to the Madrid one, where the PP requested the transfer in light of the negotiation of Catalonia with the State. The debate took place in 2007, with the request being rejected by the Cortes. Although the PSOE and Izquierda Unida supported the transfer, they rejected the proposal due to the urgency and the terms proposed by the 'popular' party.
Another community where the transfer of competencies has also been debated is Asturias, without it having progressed. Four years ago, in June 2022, the Junta General rejected an initiative from IU to initiate negotiations with the Government, once an investment plan based on existing needs was established.