Renfe has hired 25 new incident managers for the Rodalies Operations Management Centre (CGO) at El Clot station in Barcelona. This addition brings the total number of staff at the 'brain' of Rodalies to 68, according to company sources.
These new employees underwent a four-month training programme focused specifically on Rodalies operations, a change from previous hires who received more general training within Renfe. "There is still a way to go, but we have started to get better," railway operator sources said.
The CGO coordinates 272 trains, 982 daily services, and 900 drivers. Its future depends not only on these new technicians but also on better coordination with Adif's Circulation Regulation Centre (CRC) at Estació de França.
Improving Coordination and Information
The long-term plan is for Adif, which manages tracks and infrastructure, and Renfe, responsible for planning and drivers, to work together in a single shared centre within a few years. Steps have already been taken in this direction. In recent months, Renfe has increased its staff working directly at Adif's control centre, with up to three operators per shift, to relay information to their colleagues.
Having both centres work as one is critical for improving one of Rodalies' main weaknesses: passenger information. The current incident management system, which relies on the El Clot centre, starts with an alert from a driver or Adif. Once the alert reaches El Clot, passengers are informed via public address systems, and the Rodalies Management Centre's protocol is activated.
An operations technician and the centre chief provide directives to manage the incident on the ground. These often involve planned delays, service cancellations, or setting up alternative road transport. After a response plan is designed, a Renfe technician decides how and through which channels to communicate the measure. This includes station screens, public address systems, social media, SMS, and websites. The process can take up to ten minutes, depending on the incident's type and severity.
On-Site Staff and Real-Time Updates
Although the El Clot centre maintains constant communication with Adif, working from a single location would shorten the time it takes to report infrastructure incidents. As a long-term project, Renfe has implemented more immediate measures to improve passenger information.
Since mid-February, the El Clot control centre has deployed staff to stations such as Mataró, Castelldefells, Granollers Centre, L'Hospitalet, and Sant Celoni. These 'intermediate termini' are stations where some trains end their journeys or stop before continuing. Small, last-minute incidents often occur at these locations, leaving insufficient time to update information screens or public address systems. For example, a train might be announced on platform 5 but depart from platform 2, causing confusion and rushes among passengers.
Staff from the Rodalies control centre deployed at these stations receive information directly from El Clot and transmit it to passengers as quickly as possible. "For the first time, we are leaving the centre to understand the reality," company sources said.
Another outstanding issue for Rodalies and its users, also managed by the El Clot control centre, is the distribution of real-time information. Renfe has been working for months on a new app to provide more precise train information than current tools. For now, users must rely on existing real-time train tracking websites. The company is studying how to improve these portals but states they have been active for too short a time to assess their performance fully.
