Authorities aim to end rail passengers' woes

The days when the authorities could argue there was little they could do about delays on the Rodalies local rail network are over. The government's territory department has begun the year attempting to bring the irregularities to an end with two measures aimed to help passengers avoid inconvenience when using the 260 trains circulating on the local network.

In both cases they are apps. The first comes from the Sopra Steria company, which has been commissioned to develop a system that monitors the location of trains in real time. The app will tell users where their train is, when it will arrive or leave the station and about changes to the timetable.

Trains will be fitted with devices that use technology similar to that in smartphones, with GPS and Bluetooth, that will transmit its position, even when below ground.

Yet, monitoring the progress of trains does not guarantee there will be no incidents that might cause delays or cancellations. Just on Wednesday, for example, three breakdowns in Adif stations caused delays on the R1, R2 south, R3 and R4 lines. To help keep passengers informed of incidents, the government's territory and business departments have agreed to renew the Infoconsum app, which provides notifications of incidents on the network.