The first vice president and minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, Carlos Cuerpo, who, after Óscar Puente’s resignation, has also taken on the portfolio of Transport, highlighted this Monday the “important advances” made in talks with the SEMAF train drivers’ union regarding the stoppages called for the days 10 and 12 of November, and stressed that the Executive continues working to make room for their demands, focused above all on safety in the workplace.
“We are talking with the train drivers, with the SEMAF union, we are incorporating, trying to incorporate their proposals; in fact, we have been exchanging regulatory texts with them throughout the weekend in order to do it as soon as possible,” Cuerpo explained in statements to the media in Brussels, before taking part in a meeting of the Eurogroup.
The minister emphasized the “important advances” achieved in the meeting held last week with representatives of the train drivers and expressed his confidence that the dialogue will help mitigate the impact of the strikes planned, although he reiterated that the Government’s priority is to respond to the demands raised by the workforce.
“We are going to keep trying to incorporate, as I said, as soon as possible, the requests they have, essentially, on safety at work, because we believe it is relevant,” Cuerpo said, who stressed that “the priority now is to be able to move forward on their demands.”
When asked about the situation of Rodalies in Catalonia, he defended that the Executive has a “very clear commitment” to strengthen and modernize the Cercanías service, with new investments, the addition of trains, and the creation of a mixed company aimed at more efficient management.
“We hope that all this will contribute, of course, to an improvement in efficiency and an improvement in the quality of the service, which is important for users,” he said.
Continuity of the AVE Madrid-Barcelona during the works
On another matter, Cuerpo appealed to the technical criterion of the Ministry of Transport to justify maintaining the high-speed service between Madrid and Barcelona while the line renewal works are carried out, considering it essential to convey confidence to users of the country’s main rail corridor.
"This is the opinion that the technicians also give us. We believe it is important to also send a signal of trust about, in this case, the service of the most important line in terms of travelers in our country, the Madrid-Barcelona line," he has defended.
In this way, the minister has reaffirmed his position in favor of the continuity of the service, after Puente opened the door to a possible temporary interruption of traffic in order to carry out the work, an alternative that the Cuerpo itself had already ruled out last week by assuring that "there is no plan to close right now" the line.