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ARCHIVED - Work begins on Mediterranean Corridor rail line in Valencia region
The AVE high speed Valencia to Barcelona is scheduled to enter service in 2016
Work began on Monday on the stretch of the “Mediterranean Corridor” rail route between Castellón and Moncófar in the Comunitat Valenciana, marking the first improvements undertaken on the route in the region by Adif (the state-owned company in charge of rail infrastructures).
The Mediterranean Corridor is a major arterial rail line, spanning the Mediterranean coastline, and is a project of strategic importance for the Spanish government as it provides Spain with a major freight link into central Europe, a link which will help to strengthen Spanish exports and facilitate large scale freight movements.
The line will also host the AVE, high speed rail service, another important link to encourage increased tourism movement down towards the Valencia region. Cataluña is currently enjoying a tourism boom and the improved rail service will be an important arrow in the quiver of Valencian tourism. The AVE from Madrid to Alicante transported its millionth passenger recently after entering service in June last year.
The task of those working on the line is to adapt the tracks so that they can be used by high-speed AVE trains as well as conventional and freight services, thus allowing passengers to use the planned AVE service between Alicante and Barcelona as of 2016. By the same date the intention is for the whole of the Mediterranean Corridor in the Comunitat Valenciana to be fully operational, including the rail connection to the port of Alicante.
In order to achieve this upgrading of the rail network the Ministry of Fomento is investing 1,100 million euros, but there are fears that this amount may not be sufficient to complete all the work projected in time. For this reason the Feermed business lobby group has offered to attempt to persuade Ana Pastor, the Minister of Fomento, to devote a further 800 million euros to the adaptation work so that in 2016 the Corridor is operational not only in Valencia, Alicante and Castellón but also in Murcia and Cartagena.