Congress debates the restitution of rail services suspended due to the pandemic

MADRID, 28 Nov.

Congress debates the restitution of rail services suspended due to the pandemic

MADRID, 28 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Plenary of the Congress of Deputies will debate this Tuesday a motion of the PP to restore 100% of the rail services that were suspended after the declaration of the state of alarm due to the pandemic, as well as various measures related to the improvement and promotion of services railwaymen.

The motion is the consequence of an urgent question that the PP addressed weeks ago to the Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, about the measures that the Government intends to adopt "in the face of the growing deterioration of rail services."

In the text of the motion, collected by Europa Press, the Popular Group argues that it is urgent to return to the Spaniards the frequencies suspended by the pandemic, especially in what affects rural areas, where the railway "acquires greater relevance as a tool to fight against depopulation and structure the territory".

The 'popular' also refer to the 2015 Renfe Employment Plan, since in their opinion "it is causing a lack of replacement in the train driver staff due to the retirements that are taking place". In this sense, the group requires compliance with said plan to fill the vacancies.

The 'popular' make a separate mention of the state of the Cercanías and Rodalies services, where, in their opinion, the incidents are daily. That is why the group asks to promote improvement plans for these services.

In turn, they criticize the "worrying delays" in the pace of construction of railway infrastructure, something they consider fundamental for the connection with Europe, in reference to the Mediterranean Corridor and the Atlantic Corridor. Regarding this last appreciation, the formation requests to speed up the construction of two railway corridors.

Among the other requests, the PP asks to review the dynamic fare system, implemented by Renfe, to avoid the increase in the price of AVE and Long Distance tickets; as well as the revision of the rates of Renfe Mercancías.

In the same plenary session of Congress this week, another CUP motion will be debated with which they propose transferring the Rodalies service to the Catalan and Valencian administrations, accompanied by an extraordinary budget that triples the current investment in order to guarantee a better quality service. , more frequency, more wagons and new tracks and stations.

The Catalan formation also registers other requests in energy matters, requesting to increase the emission reduction targets before 2030 up to 55%. In addition, they propose to prepare an update of the Determined Contributions at the National Level, in order not to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius of increase in the average planetary temperature.

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