Copper theft leaves the entire R3 Rodalies line without service in the middle of the afternoon

According to Adif, the theft occurred between Les Franqueses del Vallès and La Garriga and caused a fault in the rail traffic regulation system. As safe operation could not be guaranteed, all trains on the line had to be stopped while technicians worked to repair the damage caused by the cable theft.

As an alternative, Rodalies has activated a special bus service between Fabra i Puig and Puigcerdà to cover the affected route. Travellers who need to travel between L'Hospitalet de Llobregat and Barcelona can use the R4 line and other public transport services to complete their journeys, although with longer travel times than usual.

The incident once again puts the spotlight on the situation on the R3, a line that has accumulated months of disruptions due to works, faults and other infrastructure problems. Modernisation work has been compounded in recent months by incidents such as collapses, fallen trees and several cable thefts that have repeatedly affected the rail service.

The Govern de Catalunya has previously stated its intention to tighten measures against this type of crime, while Mossos d'Esquadra and Adif are keeping investigations open to curb a phenomenon that causes major harm to public transport and to the thousands of users who rely on the train every day.

The recurrence of these episodes once again shows the vulnerability of railway infrastructure to copper theft. Beyond the material damage, every incident results in delays, cancellations and last-minute changes that affect workers, students and travellers, making service reliability one of the main concerns for people who use Rodalies regularly.