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AP-7 Accident Rates Soar
Two accidents per kilometre were recorded in 2025 along Catalonia’s stretch of the AP-7 motorway, a 350km route that links the region with France and forms part of the Mediterranean transport corridor. According to analysis by iRAP covering the 2022–2024 period and published by the RACC mobility division, serious and fatal accidents on Catalonia’s road network rose by 4.97%, outpacing a 4.5% increase in traffic. The AP-7 features prominently in the risk data, with three of the ten most dangerous road segments located on the motorway, reflecting its high volume of heavy goods vehicles, one in every four vehicles on the AP-7 is a lorry.
Rail Solution Proposed: The AF-7
To address congestion and safety, the civic organisation femVallès has proposed converting part of the Mediterranean Corridor rail line into a dedicated freight route, dubbed the AF-7. The plan involves using the existing Aldea–Vilamalla rail section, approximately 300km long, to carry lorries by train between key logistics hubs such as Vilafranca del Penedès, Rubí, Hostalric, and Girona Mercaderies.
“The solution is to get lorries onto trains,”
, Manel Larrosa, architect and femVallès member The service could allow drivers to meet mandatory rest periods during transit, while maintaining the flexibility of road transport for final delivery. The initiative would be managed by CIMALSA, a logistics infrastructure company owned by the Generalitat.
Challenges in Rail Readiness
Despite the potential of rail freight, only 4% of goods in Spain are transported by train, far below the EU average of 16.9%. The Mediterranean Corridor, intended to improve cross-border rail links, faces significant delays. The section between Tarragona and Castelló, critical for standardising track gauge to international width, is set to close for five to six months in mid-2027. This work cannot begin until an alternative freight route via Teruel and Zaragoza becomes operational, which is expected in the first half of 2027.
“At the slightest increase in freight, the tracks will collapse and high-speed services will have to stop,”
, Manel Larrosa Joan Amorós, president of Ferrmed, criticised the project’s sequencing, arguing that starting construction from the French border would have accelerated progress. He described the current approach as politically driven from Madrid and said it has cost two decades of lost opportunity.
A More Flexible Freight Future
Ferrmed has also developed the +Firrst system (Fast, Flexible, Integrated Rail-Road System of Transport), designed to make rail freight more responsive to real-time demand. A simulation phase is scheduled for 19 November 2026, with potential testing in major European freight corridors. The Barcelona–Tarragona node is already the third most important logistics hub in Europe, according to Ferrmed’s research.
Trucks currently travel significant distances empty, in Spain, 23.7% of heavy goods vehicle kilometres were run empty in 2021, according to data from the Generalitat’s Department of Enterprise and Labour. Shifting freight to rail via the AF-7 could improve load efficiency and reduce road wear, emissions, and accident rates.
Reported by diaridetarragona.com, movilidad.racc.es, eldiario.es, viaempresa.cat.
