The Spanish Government will invest 25.4 billion euros up until 2020 in this strategic railway infrastructure for goods transportation that will link Spain’s Mediterranean seaports with Central and Northern Europe. The European Commission has to decide in the next 3 months whether the transport axis is a European priority.
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.
The delay was attributed to heavy snow in the North of France. It was the first train that a high-speed train crossed the Pyrenees in direction to Paris. The high-speed train route from Barcelona to Paris is expected to be fully completed by 2020. This first train linked the Catalan city of Figueres with Paris, while some passengers came from Barcelona to Figueres in a regular train.
A high-speed train will link Figueres, in the Girona Province, and Perpignan, the capital of the French Roussillon, crossing through the Pyrenees. However, the Figueres-Barcelona part has not yet been finished and will enter into service in 2014. Besides, France has not yet started the construction of a high-speed railway between Perpignan and Montpellier, which could take up to 10 years time.
Lleida has become a clear example of how a high-speed train can change a city. The economic impact after the high-speed train arrival of the conference and meeting sectors has doubled from 8 to 17 million euros.
The Catalan Minister for Public Works is confident about the construction along the Mediterranean shore of the passenger and freight high-speed railway connection, which will connect Catalonia and southern Spain with Europe
A tragic night in Catalonia as a high-speed train hit a group of 30 young people who were leaving the platform by crossing over the tracks instead of going through the underpass. They were heading towards the beach for Sant Joan's Eve festivities.
High-speed trains, regional trains, subways and buses will combine into the greatest transport hub of Barcelona, La Sagrera. The Catalan President considers this huge project as ?an example of cooperation between the different administrations?.
The high speed and capacity railway connection for freight and passengers connecting Spain with France will run along the Mediterranean shore. The option of going via Zaragoza through the middle of the Pyrenees clashes with the economic crisis.