@jon this may or may not be a poisoned chalice. Less than 1bn of the 8bn promised for infrastructure improvements in Catalunya low speed infrastructure have actually been implemented. Will the generalitat also receive that money, or will they suddenly have to fund it out of existing handouts, or European funds? What’s going to happen to the new rolling stock ordered for the region? The Barcelona Sagrera station project?
If this (the infrastructure bit) is done properly, then it will be good for Catalunya, but that is a big if. And they’ll have to weather a lot of complaints/activism before improvements are actually visible to the average passenger.
I’m hesitant because I know it can be done worse than Adif are doing it at the moment.
@jon also, as we discovered not too long ago, the Spanish rail safety office is understaffed, has no leader, and has little in the way of standards, but could still be used to control infrastructure developments and decisions from the central government.
@jon FGC’s network is a lot less complicated than the Rodalies network, so I’m not sure comparison is fair. It’ll certainly get a lot more attention, and a lot more inter-agency communication than the current Renfe-Adif fubar, that’s for sure.
I’ll be intrigued to see how this affects Renfe MD, Alvia, and Renfe Mercancías, though.
It’s definitely been a good two weeks’ worth of exciting Spanish railway news.
There will be a commission made up of national and Catalan government representatives that will be defining what gets transferred or not due to the fact that a lot of it is of “general public interest”.
This agreement has only specified that the “central parts” of R1 (Molins de Rei-Maçanet Massanes), R2 Sud (Sant Vicenç de Calders - Barna França) and, crucially, R3 (Hospitalet-Puigcerda) should be included.
FGC (via Ifercat) will take over infrastructure.
A new joint venture between the state and Catalunya will take over ops, including workers. It will not be FGC directly. They will receive all the rolling stock. They will also start off debt free, and Renfe assumes all its debts in Catalunya.
The JV is mostly as a way of ensuring the rights of existing Renfe workers to move between cities. A significant number of them are temporarily posted to Catalunya
They want to have this done in the 4 years of Sánchez’s legislature
There’s nothing particularly new here, though the text specifies that only track that is used exclusively by the Catalan Govt will be handed over. They will be checking the whole network to see if there’s more than just the three lines. Freight seems to be nonexistent or an afterthought in this agreement.
I’ll be interested in seeing if the station, and crucially, the gauge changer at Puigcerdà is included, as that may signal the return of the Catalan Talgo if the other side are amenable.
@jon damn. You’re quite right, I got confused there. I wonder if Portbou will end up as part of the Catalan network though, as only Rodalies (and freight) goes there. I suspect the gauge changer will be considered a piece of infrastructure in the national interest.
@Whiskeyomega oh, wow, just spotted this. No need to reorder, I’m happy having a unique one. The whole point was to add something to the Kitty for you.
Get a cleaner.
If you’re like me you’ll do the rush-tidy thing before they arrive so they can get at the surfaces that need cleaning.
And then the place will be clean and your mind may be clearer to think of of other stuff.
b) While anxiously avoiding the cleaner in another room in the flat I normally accidentally end up doing something productive.
Invest in smart lighting, and spend time configuring it for your needs. Ikea have a pretty good selection:
“Goodnight/Goodbye” mode makes sure all the lights are out when you go out or to bed
Automatically turn on living room lights near sunset, so you never end up sitting in the dark when you can’t get up to switch things on
Get up overnight to go to the loo? Have some coloured bulbs that have a dim red option on the way so your night vision doesn’t get shot
Got to be out of the house by a certain time? Strategically placed bulbs that flood a particular area green/red or other colours to let you know that you’re running on time or should start leaving
Get a coloured bulb/lamp near your computer. Link it to your online meeting calendar. Set it to turn green a few mins befit and red just before meetings, so you arrive on time.
I got a new iPhone and transferred across my data using the direct copy between phones option
I want to wipe the old phone now, but I'm paranoid there may be something that got missed. I've run into problems with 2FA apps in the past but those seem to be working OK
@simon chat app history. Signal and WhatsApp are both potential pain issues. Also, any digital certificate-based apps, but that’s admittedly a niche issue.
@seldo I’ve decided that just because it’s October, that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the German gingerbread and Spanish turrón that plagues my supermarket right now. Moar sugar is always good
@jon@PGLux this has always been 10-15 years away since yonks ago. They certainly talked about it back when I lived in Tangiers 2006-2008. It’s one of the recurring themes of the strangeness of the Strait, like the whole kerfuffle with the Gibraltar border. A lot of noise and little activity to show for it.
Given the rise of the right in Spain, this increasingly less likely to happen in the next decade or so.