Aggressions by travelers against Renfe workers increase: "Giving you a push is very normal"

Although in recent weeks when Renfe is mentioned it is usually to talk about the fiasco of the trains that do not fit through the Cantabria and Asturias tunnels, the company has another problem that, for many, is even more serious: an increase in

.

It happens, as denounced by employees and unions, almost every day and works such as the infrastructure of the Sol tunnel, in Madrid, worsen the situation.

It is not something new -in 2017 they already warned of it-, but they have noticed

.

It occurs at a national level (they point out the increase in passengers with free passes as key) and with local peaks, such as those generated by works.

The problem, they point out from the union, is that the measures to mitigate the impact of the energy crisis and promote public transport not only are not accompanied by a reinforcement of the service, but also collide with previous cuts.

Renfe, for its part, denies this situation.

Company sources assure EL MUNDO that "there has been no increase in attacks on Renfe workers in recent months at Cercanías Madrid, but that these are specific events."

So far this year, they point out, "

."

"In any case, Renfe rejects and denounces any type of physical or verbal aggression against its workers, and will exercise the appropriate legal actions against any aggressor, in defense of its workers."

Both employees and associations understand the day-to-day impact that setbacks have on citizens and, in fact, encourage them to report them.

However, the reality is that the one who ends up suffering the consequences is the one who is on the ground.

"No aggression is justified, but it is true that when there are more problems or the service is worse, when people feel worse treated by companies, in the end the person who shows his face ends up paying the price," explains Pepa Páez

secretary General of the CCOO railway sector.

Although in her last campaign they refer to the Cercanías network, she points out that it is something "

".

"Lately there has been everything from the case of an attack with a scissors to a punch to a colleague from Badajoz, kicks...", she lists.

"They are serious attacks that one day may have consequences that we have to regret."

Mercedes, a worker at a large suburban train station in Madrid, confirms this: "Verbal attacks happen every day."

"The worker already assumes them as something that is part of his work, because

," she laments.

And they have also come to normalize -not justify, of course- more violent aggressions.

"A traveler who arrives aggressively or who pushes you is very normal."

Both agree that behind the attacks, beyond the lack of civility, is the problem of the drop in the quality of service.

"

", concedes Mercedes. "You are all living and suffering it as customers and workers that you are, because you take the train to go to work," he points out. And that is another key: whoever takes a Cercanías train rarely does it for leisure, but uses it to go to work, study or a medical appointment. And being late is not always an option. "We are the image of the company, the first person you meet and, obviously, you vent your frustration on her and not because she is to blame", illustrates the worker, who, in fact, also suffers delays when she goes to her post. What's more, she acknowledges that many travelers directly tell them that they understand that they are not to blame, but they are the only one option they will have to express their discomfort.

"In the end, anything that creates a bad feeling with the traveler because the service is not provided

," says Páez, who explains that there is no specific user profile. violent.

Because, as Mercedes argues, "they are not children or adolescents; they are older people, in suits, from all walks of life."

Of course, she also points out that "there are very good people" and "there are travelers who interfere".

Commuter Passes

The free Cercanías subscriptions have put even more stress on the service.

"It is a bonus from which we are all benefiting, but it has created a considerable increase in passengers and this increase is not in line with an increase in personnel or in the circulation of trains," explains Mercedes.

This, she complains, "creates frustration" for the regular traveler.

"He was going, as far as possible, well and now he finds that

."

Also the aforementioned Sol tunnel or the Adif works add complications, according to Páez.

"The people who use the service do not understand if the fault lies with the infrastructure administrator or the company that provides the operation; what matters to the person is that the train does not work and that they are going to be late", ditch she.

For both of them, the solution is, first of all, to

.

"The service must be improved, security must be improved both on trains and in stations, intervention personnel must be increased and, with the works, information personnel must even be increased," sums up Mercedes.

He also believes that it would be useful to carry out awareness campaigns "because

".

Páez, for his part, goes further and alludes to another of his demands, which is to grant the figure of agent of authority to the people who control the trains.

"Going to work does not have to be something that generates stress for the mere fact of not knowing what is going to happen to you there."

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