SUR : Spain - The future coastal railway opens the door for high-speed trains - by Cristina Gonzales

Spains High Speed Train System takes off

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Spain - The future coastal railway opens the door for high-speed trains - by Cristina Gonzales

Now that the AVE trains run to and from Malaga, municipalities on the Costa del Sol are already looking ahead to 2013 when this high speed train service will be extended along the coast. The railway line for the future coastal train service will play a major part in bringing to fruition this long-awaited dream of local people and professionals in the tourism industry. The first steps are already being taken. The Ministry of Public Works will be responsible for creating the line for the coastal train between Malaga and Fuengirola, while the Junta de Andalucía will build the link between Fuengirola and Estepona. These two projects, which will cost more than one thousand million euros, will mean that one day in the future the AVE could have its own stop, for example, in the centre of Marbella, something the regional government's delegate for Public Works and Transport, Concepción Gutiérrez, has referred to on several occasions in the past. Sources at the Junta de Andalucía have told this newspaper that the first works to be carried out will be on the stretch between Fuengirola and San Pedro Alcántara, and will involve two separate projects. At the moment, they are in the phase of supervision before final approval, which is the step prior to the works being put to tender sometime in 2008. The Junta's budget for next year already includes the sum of 14.1 million euros to start off the coastal railway project, and during a visit to Marbella the president of the regional government, Manuel Chaves, announced that trains will be traveling as far as San Pedro within six years. The stretch of line between San Pedro and Estepona is currently the subject of an informative study.

Spain has ambitious plans for its high-speed network. In the future the target is for 7,200km (4,500 miles) of high-speed railway for 350km/h operation, and progress has being made on several fronts to extend the network. The Spanish government has also agreed to pursue a high-speed link between Madrid, Lisbon and Paris with the Portugese and French Governments.