On Sunday morning, a train on the R4 line suffered a partial derailment due to a landslide caused by rainfall. The event occurred at 7:45 a.m. between the Vacarisses and Castellbell stations, without causing any injuries. After almost a day of work, Cercanías reported through X that Adif technicians had repaired the infrastructure and that service on lines R4 and R12 had been restored. However, speed remains limited at the scene of the incident.
Single track traffic
While the repair work was carried out, the trains had to run on a single track along the affected section. This had repercussions on the service of the R4 trains to and from Manresa and the R12 trains. Cercanías also indicated that the point where the landslide occurred is 3 kilometers from another point where there was already an incident in 2018. On that occasion, the existence of a mesh contributed to reducing the impact of the landslide. As a result of that incident, emergency works were carried out at a cost of 8 million euros. Actions to ensure the stability of this section have been constant in recent years. Recently, trench works were announced 1 km from where today’s landslide occurred.
Repair tasks
In relation to the repair tasks of the section where the incident occurred this Sunday, 200 crossings were carried out and the slopes were consolidated and the trench was cleaned. It was also planned to install a new mesh. Until these tasks were completed, the trains circulated through this point of the railway network on a single track. Likewise, users were notified of this exceptional situation through all means of communication and customer service.
Cable theft
On February 21, the Cercanías service was affected by a cable theft, which occurred between Sabadell and Cerdanyola del Vallès and caused alterations in the service of lines R4 and R7. This is the second cable theft that occurred at Cercanías during the same week. Two days before, on February 19, another occurred that affected line R3. In that case, the scene of the robbery was the section between the Parets de los Vallès and Franqueses stations.