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.
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.
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.