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ARCHIVED - Alicante-Elche will get its rail link, promises the Spanish Government
The railway connection to the Costa Blanca's largest airport and the 5th busiest in Spain has been in the pipeline for 22 years
Despite more than two decades of calls for a railway connection between Alicante-Elche Airport and the city of Alicante, aside from forking out 50,000 for a feasbility stuy which was approved two years ago, no progress has been made by the government.
That is, until now. It appears a rail link could finally be on track having been in the pipeline for 22 years, with a promise from the Spanish Government that it will put the drafting of the project for phase 1 out to tender this year.
The Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, announced the plans with the Valencian President, Ximo Puig, this week, and in light of the fact Alicante-Elche Airport is the fifth busiest in Spain, the latter stressed that a rail connection "is very much in demand" and described it as "absolutely reasonable".
Puig also estimated that 80 million euros will be invested, although it's not clear whether he was referring to the rail link alone or to the total amount that the government will allocate in 2022 to infrastructure in the province of Alicante - one of the lowest figures in Spain.
Also of interest: Ministry of Transport to invest 7.4M euros improving the busiest section of the A-7 Alicante
Fifteen million passengers passed through Alicante-Elche Airport in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, but it remains the only main European airport that does not have a direct rail connection.
This has led to a proliferation of so-called 'pirate car parks' on land surrounding the airport, the main option for users to travel to the airport, according to the Business Union of the Province of Alicante (UEPAL) and the agricultural collective Asaja which slammed "the lack of political impetus" to approve the rail connection in February.
"The fifth largest airport in terms of passenger traffic in the country is still only accessible by road 11 years after its expansion, and after 55 years of operation. This is an exceptional situation that none of the main peninsular airports suffer from," blasted the groups.
They argued that Alicante-Elche is "one of the worst connected tourist airports in the world" and the only one, together with Marrakech, that has no rail connection.
"The surrounding rural land has become a gigantic asphalt area where a score of car parks and car rental companies occupy more than 140 hectares, an area equivalent to 140 football fields", added the groups.
Image: @raquelsjimenez
staff.inc.ali
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