Girona

Taking a train to go to work in Barcelona or Girona has become an impossible mission

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Finding an AVANT train ticket to move around Catalonia has become quite a risky mission. Thousands of people who travel daily from Girona and Lleida to Barcelona face the impossibility of finding this type of ticket less than two weeks in advance. The high demand has overwhelmed the supply of places on high-speed services, forcing users to plan their trips weeks in advance or risk being left without transportation. The problem in figures. Demand for AVANT services has skyrocketed in recent years. According to Renfe data that share elDiario, in 2024 the Figueres-Barcelona line transported 1.52 million passengers, 43% more than in 2022. From Lleida, the increase was even more pronounced: 488,000 travelers in 2024, 65% more than two years before. This exponential growth has exceeded the capacity of the current infrastructure, creating a bottleneck that especially affects peak demand times. Why are AVANTs collapsed? The phenomenon has several causes. The main one is 50% bonus in the price of the passes implemented in 2022, which has turned these trains into an accessible alternative to the private vehicle. Added to this is the deterioration of the Rodalies and Media Distancia service, plagued by incidents and delayswhich has pushed many users towards high speed. Travel times are also a more attractive factor: 40 minutes from Girona to Barcelona compared to an hour and a half by conventional train, or an hour and a quarter from Lleida compared to more than three hours by Rodalies. The odyssey of getting a ticket. Daniel Blay, who usually takes the Girona-Barcelona train, account to elDiario that “on Monday of each week I try to reserve all the tickets for the following week, because if not you will run out.” For some critical schedules, such as the 7:25 train from Girona, there are no places available “within ten days or two weeks.” From Lleida, the situation is similar. Kevin Bruque, spokesperson for the Avant Catalunya Users platform, explained to the media that “you only find 15 days in advance to get a ticket if you are lucky.” Delays exacerbate chaos. In addition to the shortage of places, users report a significant increase in delays. More than 550 users have a Telegram group for the Girona line, coordinated by Blay, in which they already They have documented 292 delays longer than four minutes only in November 2025. Many of these delays occur on return journeys in the afternoon, when trains accumulate delays from long-distance services from Seville, Valencia or Madrid, according to the media. To solve this problem, many travelers demand shuttle trains that do not depend on connections with other routes, they assured from elDiario. The official response is insufficient. Renfe recognizes that the offer has grown from 1.4 million seats annually in 2022 to 2.4 million in 2024, but users maintain that frequencies have not been added during peak hours, where they are most needed. The operator attributes the delays to the improvement works on the Catalan railway network, especially in the future Sagrera station. However, passengers consider that these explanations do not solve the underlying problem: the need for more trains and more seats. More solutions. Among the urgent measures proposed by several of the traveler platforms, the 50% bonus should be maintained beyond 2025, since its disappearance would make the cost unaffordable for many workers and students. On the other hand, they demand an increase in frequencies and available seats. CCOO has proposed reusing Avlo service trains that are out of use to double the capacity of AVANT, an initiative that the Generalitat has included in its railway strategy under the name Catav, according to share the ARA Newspaper. In the case of Lleida, users also claim to be able to access the empty seats on the Madrid-Barcelona AVE trains that stop in their city, something that is currently only possible on four frequencies. What happens now? The Minister of Territory, Silvia Paneque, advertisement last week that the Government is working with the Ministry of Transport to improve AVANT services in Girona and Lleida. CCOO confirms that the ministry has agreed to study the proposal to reuse Avlo trains. It remains to be seen if the proposals end up reaching a solution that clarifies all this chaos. Cover image | Zarateman (Wikipedia) In Xataka | Renfe has three AVRIL trains lost and an even more serious problem: it still does not know when it will receive them

Girona has managed to decongest its historic center copying a trick of Barcelona: erase from Google Maps

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Girona has made Google and Waze modify the routes that took cars, especially tourists, to cross the old town of their city known as Barri Vell. This historical area has the Restricted circulationwith priority for pedestrians and limited access to residents and businesses. For Avoid excess traffic and preserve the pedestrian character of the center, the City Council asked the managers of those browsers to prioritize alternative tours and clearly mark the restrictions of access to the area. Atasque between 2,000 years of history Before, Google Maps and Waze guided To many drivers inside the Barri Vell to take shortcuts, especially tourists who trusted the GPS to move around the city. The problem is that, like most historical centers, this generated Unduse circulation in narrow and cobbled streets that are not designed for road traffic and hindered the circulation of neighbors. Such and as they highlight in The newspaper, In Barri Vell the circulation is restricted and special authorization is required to access even for distribution and service vehicles that are subjected to an access time control to prioritize the pedestrian use of the monumental center with more than 2,000 years of history. “We have been working to guarantee pacification at Barri Vell and the priority for pedestrians to be the seal of the city,” wrote Lluc Salellas, mayor of Girona In his X profile. Touch the photo to go to the original message The municipal idea for decongestion The Gironés City Council sent letters to Google and Waze to request that Barri Vell be eliminated as a recommended route to avoid the passage of tourist cars in this area. This management took several months, but finally was effective and GPS applications stopped proposing the historic center as a shortcut for the internal displacements of the city. In addition, the municipal team works so that the information shown in the browsers be as accurate as possibleclearly indicating the places where tourists They can park outside the historic center and preventing vehicles from being reserved where the spaces for loading and discharge are reserved. “We have made Google and Waze clearly mark that Barri Vell is an area with restricted circulation; and therefore, do not send tourists’ cars so easily,” explained Mayor Salellas to The newspaper.es. Girona is not the only one that has “erased” Google Girona It is not the only city that has asked Google to modify the information it gives to its users to redirect tourism flows and reorder the traffic of its streets. Barcelona City Council applied a similar measure To decongest the accesses to Park Güell, one of its most visited tourist places, eliminating from Google Maps one of the bus lines that went up to the park. This action sought to avoid the saturation of tourists and prioritize the service for the use of their neighbors, freeing them from the saturation of thousands of tourists who visit Gaudí’s work every day. In Holland, a small town managed to make fun of Google Maps To decongest its streets coordinating their neighbors to send false reports of cut streets. That caused the GPS to redirect traffic to alternative routes by freeing its neighbors from excess traffic. In all cases, this coordinated strategy with GPS applications has managed to reduce mass tourism in the most sensitive areas of cities, demonstrating how technological ones can influence tourist flows. In Xataka | One day, all Germans in Germany appeared closed on Google Maps. The problem is that nobody knows why Image | Unspash (Brandon Gurney, Priscilla du Preez)

A student from Girona set up his Cybercrime Office at home. His mistake was to show off his robberies on the Internet

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A joint operation of Mossos d’Esquadra and National Police He has arrested a hacker in Roses (Girona) Responsible for several cyber attacks operating from a sophisticated technological network … in their own home. Why is it important. The detainee had managed to configure a technological network complex using anonymous applications that allowed him to hide his trail while attacked financial institutions, private companies and public bodies. The researchers discovered that the hacker, a young computer student with very advanced knowledge, stole personal databases of employees and clients, as well as confidential internal documents. Then he sold this information in forums of the Dark Web or published it without asking for anything in return. What has happened. The investigation started in May 2024, when the agents detected in a forum that someone presumed to have data from Spanish banks, a self -school and a public university. The same subject later claimed to have filtered the database of a Barcelona plumbing company. After an arduous discouragement of desanimization, the researchers located Roses’s address from where the attacks were launched. The subsequent investigations identified the inhabitants of the house, including the young computer student. In detail. During the record they seized: A laptop. A dozen mobile phones. Several hard drives. More than thirty SIM cards. Several bank cards in the name of different people. The detainee made available to the Court of Guard of Figueres for a crime of discovery and revelation of secrets. And now what. The investigation remains active to locate new victims and clarify all the scams that this person may have committed using stolen data to the affected entities. Outstanding image | Mossos d’Esquadra In Xataka | We visited the National CNI cryptological center: here is the epicenter of Spanish cybersecurity

The confirmed lineup of Girona against Milan in the matchday 7 of the Champions League

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Soccer Míchel Sánchez has introduced several new features in the eleven with the aim of making a splash at San Siro and making it to the final day alive. The crossing of Girona The Champions League is about to end with an unbeatable outcome for the humble Catalan club. Liverpool, AC Milan and Arsenal They are the three historic teams that meet with the revelation club of LaLiga last season. After the good image shown against the ‘reds’, Míchel’s men dream of giving the surprise in San Siro. Girona has faced its first participation in the Champions League by facing top rivals such as PSG, Feyenoord and Liverpool. However, in this competition the experience It is a degree and it is what the team has lacked, in addition to the luck necessary for the ball to enter the rival goal. Girona’s situation in the classification is not good. The Catalan club is virtually eliminated having won only one game of the six played. Mathematics says that Míchel’s they still have optionsbut they are very remote. The Gironí team should beat Milan (in San Siro) and Arsenal (in Montilivi) and wait for three teams to not score points and five to leave points along the way. In the goal, Gazzaniga He will continue to be the starting goalkeeper. The Míchel’s confidence The Argentine remains intact, betting on him in both La Liga and Champions League matches, he has only missed the Copa del Rey. Furthermore, he arrives after putting in a great performance against Sevilla, stopping a penalty against Isaac Romero. The defense may be the line where Míchel has the most doubts. Against larger rivals, Girona has suffered a lot with the line of four, although against Liverpool the defensive plot produced its best game. So when one thing works, it is better not to change it. David Lopez and Krejci They will be in the rear axis, while Blind and Alexander French They will start from the sides. The center of the field will be formed by the double pivot composed of Oriol Romeu and Yangel Herreraindisputable in Míchel’s scheme; while something further ahead will be Van de Beek. On the offensive side, Bryan Gil will act as left winger, while Tsygankov will be on the right wing. At the point of attack, Abel Ruiz He will have the responsibility of scoring the goals that Girona has lacked: four in six games. Probable lineups: AC Milan: Maignan; Theo Hernández, Gabbia, Pavlovic, Emerson Royal; Bennacer, Fofana, Musah, Reijnders, Leao and Morata. Girona: Gazzaniga; Alejandro Francés, David López, Krejci, Blind; Oriol Romeu, Yangel Herrea, Van de Beek; Tsygankov, Bryan Gil and Abel Ruiz.

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