Full train. These are the two words that dozens of train users on the Atlantic axis (Vigo-Pontevedra-Santiago-A Coruña-Ferrol) and the Ourense-A Coruña corridor encountered this weekend thanks to free season tickets. An example was that both Friday and Sunday, the nine trains of the Atlantic axis that left Vigo from one in the afternoon had full signs and that Renfe reinforced them to the maximum of their possibilities by doubling the wagons of each train (from four to eight). “Demand is greater than supply”, this is how Renfe union sources sum up the problems that many Galicians have experienced this weekend. “Renfe has all the material it has in circulation. He is at full capacity, especially on Friday and Sunday ”, they acknowledge.
It could increase frequencies, they point out, but this would mean increasing staff and at the moment there are no more drivers. “You can double the number of carriages on a train (from four to eight), as happened this weekend, because the driver is the same, but if you had to increase frequencies, you couldn’t because you no longer have assigned drivers,” acknowledge the same sources.
The Platform for Users of the Medium Distance Public Service of the Atlantic Axis and the Avant Ourense-A Coruña Corridor and the Perder o Tren entity yesterday denounced the “chaos” in the railway service with users who “were left stranded” and seats sold twice.
Sources from both entities explained to Efe, after the first ten days of using the free passes that 28,000 people in Galicia have according to the government delegation, that the service was “chaotic”, with “delays” and “full trains” and Renfe’s “lack of foresight”.
The service got off to a good start on 1 September, although groups regretted the delays, while reporting an increase of around 25% in users. Renfe has announced that it will increase the offer of weekly trains in Galicia with more than 14,000 seats, a measure it launched last Tuesday, immediately after the groups had denounced that on Monday there had already been users who had not found a seat.
From Tuesday to Thursday, collectives observed slight delays, while acknowledging that supply was in line with demand.
However, on Friday, coinciding with the start of the university course, they observed that all the trains on the Atlantic axis between Vigo and A Coruña and between A Coruña and Ourense were full.
They also tested the same seats being sold to multiple people in both lines.
Furthermore, they underline that “there are trains that leave with a 50% payment and the recurring one does not. This is the example of the one that leaves at 8.30 from A Coruña, which appears in the 50% pass but not in the free one”.
The lack of seats meant that, according to the groups, there were users who “stayed down”, as they could not even access seats on the bus lines, which were also full.
Bid adjustment
For all these reasons, they are once again asking Renfe to adjust supply to demand, meet punctuality commitments and readjust the ticket sales service to avoid duplication of seats.
They consider free subscriptions to be positive, but regret that after ten days there have been numerous incidents and regular users have lost their seats, which they use for work or study.
Users and unions promote “the responsible use of recurring season tickets, because you can’t formalize and not go to the end, if you can’t go you have to cancel or cancel the ticket because there are people on the ground because there are no seats, and then there are empty seats. So they ask for “responsibility and efficient use of season tickets” in their formalization”.
Last Friday, a “surreal” situation occurred at the Santiago intermodal station, according to eyewitnesses. The demand for free travel has concentrated a large number of students with formal tickets and without one trying to get a cheaper than normal trip. With so many people, Monbus was forced to “set in motion quite extraordinary numbers of reinforcements from an unexpected influx of railroad-derived commuters.” Monbus had to upgrade 20 buses to serve the lines that connect with the Galician capital such as Ferrol, Vigo and Ourense.
