Councillor at Barcelona City Council for three consecutive terms, Mercè Sala i Schnorkowski was also president of TMB, and first deputy mayor for urban planning and public works. An economics graduate, she worked at the Banc Industrial de Catalunya for nine years. Her first term of office coincided with the first democratic municipal elections in 1979. In 1991, she became the first woman to become president of RENFE (the Spanish National Rail Network), where she was the driving force behind the commissioning of Spain’s first high-speed rail line (AVE). The Sants metro stop connects to the most important RENFE station in the city.
A councillor in the Barcelona City Council during three mandates, she was the president of TMB and the first Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning. Subsequently, as the president of Renfe, she promoted the first high-speed rail line (AVE) in Spain.