freight

Barcelona Port affected by a lack of investment from the Spanish Government

March 6, 2012 12:13 AM | CNA

The enlargement of Barcelona Port, where Hutchison’s new container terminal will be located, was supposed to be linked by International-width standard railway to Central Europe and be better connected by road. However, the Spanish Minister for Transport and Public Works, Ana Pastor, announced that work cannot start this year; neither can she guarantee the provisional solution will be in place in June, when the new container terminal was supposed to start operating. Since the Spanish Government has not started the work, the technical studies have expired. “Hopefully they will be redone by the end of the year”, said Pastor.

Catalans shocked by decision to prioritise the Central Railway Corridor

February 17, 2012 12:16 AM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The Spanish Minister for Public Works and Transport, Ana Pastor, announced she would prioritise the Central Railway Corridor, which would link the Gibraltar area with Madrid, Zaragoza, Toulouse and the rest of Europe through the Central Pyrenees. The European Commission announced in October it would not fund the Central Corridor, but those along the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coasts, where the main industrial centres and ports are located. The Catalan business community and political parties have pushed for the Mediterranean Corridor. Their fear was that the current crisis combined with prioritising the construction of a second corridor might push resources away from the Mediterranean.

Central Europe will be better connected by rail with Spain’s Mediterranean ports, industrial centres and tourist destinations

October 19, 2011 10:59 PM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The European Commission has included the Mediterranean Railway Corridor for freight and passengers among the next EU transport priorities. The EU might pay between 10% and 20% of the construction costs if it is finished before 2030. The ports of Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia, Almería and Algeciras will become true European gateways to North Africa and Asia. In addition, high-speed trains will travel along the Spanish Mediterranean coast to France. Catalan politicians and business people have unanimously celebrated the good news but believe it comes too late and fear the Spanish Government could still prioritise other corridors. In fact, the EC also included other corridors, which pass through Madrid. Therefore Spain’s traditional radial model may still persist.

The European Parliament considers the Mediterranean Railway Corridor to be "absolutely imperative and crucial"

October 10, 2011 11:45 PM | CNA / Albert Segura

The Chairman of the EP’s Transport Committee, the British MEP Brian Simpson, has stated that building the Mediterranean Railway Corridor for freight and passengers is “absolutely imperative and crucial” for the European economy. On the contrary, the third corridor going through the Central Pyrenees, linking Zaragoza and Toulouse is “not-viable and not-needed”. “Drilling mountains is very very expensive”, he warned. The Mediterranean Railway Corridor would link Central and Northern Europe with Spain’s Mediterranean ports by international-width tracks. In addition, it would include a high-speed train service for passengers.

The European Commission would include the Mediterranean Railway Corridor as an EU transport priority

October 5, 2011 09:19 PM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

According to some MEPs, the international-width high-speed railway corridor for freight and passengers along Spain’s Mediterranean coast that connects ports, industrial centres and tourist resorts would be included in the next priority map of European transport networks. The necessary infrastructural project for the EU economy would link Central and Northern Europe with Spain’s ports that trade directly with North Africa and Asia, enabling trains going non-stop on international-width railway. The EU would pay for 25% of its cost. The Central Corridor passing through Madrid, Zaragoza and the Central Pyrenees would fall from the list, as economic criteria are decisive in times of economic difficulties. However, the definitive list will be released on October 19th.

Catalonia, Valencia and Murcia combine forces for the Mediterranean Railway Corridor to be included as a European priority

September 16, 2011 11:16 PM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The presidents of Catalonia, the Valencian Community and the Region of Murcia met in Barcelona to ask the Spanish Government to prioritise the construction and inclusion of the Mediterranean Railway Corridor in the European Transport network. This infrastructure is essential for both the Spanish and European economies, as it would transport freight and passengers non-stop from Gibraltar to Stockholm, passing through Valencia, Barcelona and Lyon. In times of public deficit, there is not enough money to build a railway corridor passing through Madrid, and the Spanish Government has to prioritise the Mediterranean Corridor, which links the main export and industrial centres in the country with Europe.

The Mediterranean Railway Corridor for freight and High-Speed passenger trains is “an undeniable priority” states Spanish Minister for Public Works

July 7, 2011 10:57 PM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The Spanish Minister for Public Works, Jose Blanco, attended the end of the drilling works of the High-Speed Train tunnel that will cross Girona, part of the line that will connect with the French border. The Mediterranean Railway Corridor is a long running issues for Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia and Andalucía. It would link the Straights of Gibraltar, the harbours of Barcelona and Valencia, and Central and Northern Europe, allowing a freight train to go from Algeciras or Barcelona directly to Hamburg or Stockholm.

The Spanish Government says now that both the Mediterranean and the Mid-Pyrenees Railway Corridors are priority

February 25, 2011 11:10 PM | CNA / María Fernandez Noguera / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The Mediterranean Railway Corridor has been constantly overlooked even though it is a key infrastructure for Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia, Andalucía,and also for Spain and even the European Union. In the last few years, the Socialist Spanish Government was constantly pushing for the Central Pyrenees Corridor (going through the Pyrenees in Aragon) for electoral and regional equilibrium reasons but the Mediterranean one was hardly mentioned. Is the EU going to include the Mediterranean Railway Corridor in its agenda?

The Mediterranean railway corridor, linking Algeciras with Stockholm, must be a European priority

January 12, 2011 11:06 PM | CNA / Raquel Correa

Politicians and businessmen from Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia and Andalucía participated today in an event pushing for the so called Mediterranean Railway Corridor for freight and passengers. They push the European Union to declare it a European priority, an axe that would vertebrate Europe, from Gibraltar to the Baltic Sea. However, participants criticised that the Spanish Government has yet to show its commitment to building freight railway with European-standard width that would connect Andalucía, Valencia and Barcelona to Central Europe. Besides goods, the corridor should also count with a high-speed train connection for passengers.

Barcelona harbour connected by European-standard railway to Europe

December 22, 2010 10:41 PM | CNA / J. R. Torné

Freight will be able to be transported with the same train using the new European-standard railway connecting the Barcelona Harbour to the French network. With the new freight infrastructure, the journey between Barcelona and Lyon will be reduced by 6 hours and will eliminate the extra costs of changing trains in the Pyrenees. Barcelona is thus greater consolidated as the main Mediterranean harbour and as a logistic platform for freight.