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A test train has been keeping Badalona residents awake for weeks
A train parked just a few metres from homes in Badalona has been making a constant noise for several weeks, which is especially bothersome at night. Complaints have reached the City Council, which has just formally asked Rodalies to stop the tests at this location or move the train to a place further from the houses.
The train is on a siding near Badalona station, opposite Eduard Maristany street and between Marina and Colom streets, beside the plot where the former MOBBA factory stood. Adif has explained to the local council that the train remains there to carry out technical tests.
The problem, however, goes beyond this single train. Residents of Eduard Maristany say they have spent months putting up with engines running, braking, shunting and other railway work on this track. On some nights, according to their accounts, the activity continues until four in the morning.
The situation has become particularly difficult during the summer. Neighbours explain that opening windows to relieve the heat means letting in the sound coming directly from the tracks, which are very close to the buildings. Faced with the lack of a stable solution, they have also started a petition.
Badalona's fourth deputy mayor, Sònia Egea, has sent a letter to the director general of Rodalies de Catalunya, Òscar Playà. The City Council is asking for two alternatives: stop the tests at this location while they continue to cause disturbance, or move them to another area where there are no homes immediately nearby.
The local council has also requested an acoustic measurement. It wants to carry out sound level measurements to establish how many decibels the railway activity actually generates and check whether the limits set by noise-pollution regulations are being respected. For now, there is no public measurement that makes it possible to state that those limits are being exceeded.
Another party is also involved behind the tests. According to the information passed on to residents, some of the trains used still belong to the manufacturer Alstom, which carries out checks before they enter service. Renfe says that it has communicated the complaints to those responsible for these operations.
Rodalies has acknowledged that certain technical checks may cause noise disturbance and says it will study measures to reduce their impact during rest hours, including a possible reorganisation of operations where technically possible. For the time being, however, no date has been announced either for removing the train or for ceasing to use this track for testing.
Residents want precisely to prevent the siding next to Eduard Maristany from habitually becoming a space for repairing and testing trains. The next step will now depend on Rodalies' response and the sound level measurements requested by the City Council.