Portugal's cutbacks halt high-speed train to Spain

 

The Portuguese austerity plan presented by Pedro Passos Coelho's conservative government last week is not to Spain's liking. It was particularly irked by the announcement that construction on the high-speed railway project between Madrid and Lisbon would be "suspended". The high-speed train would have connected the two capital cities in two hours and 45 minutes by 2013, instead of nine hours at present.

While conservative opposition to the project has regularly postponed work on the Portuguese side, work is well under way in Spain. Nearly €800m ($1.6bn) in public money has already been paid out from the total €3.8bn cost of the Spanish segment of the line.

Although the former Portuguese prime minister, Socialist José Sócrates, had made it a priority during his mandate, in the past two years the Portuguese track (estimated cost €3.3bn) has been facing vetoes from the centre-right opposition, which has criticised the high cost of the project at a time when the public deficit (9.3% of GDP) calls for austerity measures.

In exchange for a €78bn European bailout plan, the Social Democratic party (PSD), voted in on 6 June, has committed itself to a number of measures and reforms to reduce the public deficit to 3% of GDP by 2013. But Passos Coelho, who has boasted that he will exceed the austerity targets agreed in the EU-IMF bailout, has added objectives that weren't on the cards, including the postponement of the Iberian high-speed line.

In Spain, that Portuguese zeal is not appreciated. The Spanish transportation minister, José Blanco López, has described the Portuguese decision as a "bad" one and reminded his neighbour that "the project has obtained European financing". Madrid fears that the European funds allocated to the railway will be scaled down if the Portuguese decide to pull out permanently. To press his point, Blanco has asked to meet his Portuguese counterpart at the earliest opportunity.

In the Spanish regions that were to be covered by the high-speed train, there is concern about the local repercussions in terms of jobs and tourism, although according to the president of Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, "this decision won't affect the Spanish end of the line".

Last week, the Portuguese prime minister announced that further budget cuts would be put before parliament.

source: guardian

High speed ‘ghost train’ cancelled in Spain

 

Spain’s state controlled rail operator Renfe has cancelled its high speed service that connects Toledo with the cities of Albacete and Cuenca.
The route began operations last December but was taken out of operation last Friday (1st July) due to lack of passenger demand.
Enrique Urkijo, the Director General for Passengers at Renfe called the service a ‘ghost train’.
Only 9 passengers on average use the route daily, Urkijo said last Monday; “Renfe feels the pain when we only transport steel”.
The route ‘works like a shot’ but costs €18,000 a day to operate and has transported just 2796 users in 6 months.
The Toledo to Albacete/Cuenca route was launched after demand from the Mayors of the towns, who said it would benefit their cities greatly.
Renfe have now decided to focus on services between Toledo and Madrid to ‘suit the actual demand for the corridor’.
Passengers who previously travelled on the now cancelled route will have to change trains in Madrid, increasing their journey time by around 25 minutes.

source: www.rail.co

Pak to purchase railway engines from Spain

Islamabad—Pakistan has accepted the offer of Spanish government to purchase its used railway engines and an agreement would be signed after railway officials visited each others countries.
Well-placed sources in the Ministry of Railways said that Spanish ambassador during his meeting with Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour had offered his government’s assistance restoration of railways.
He had also offered him to provide used railway engines to support railway system of the country.
Sources said that it was decided that Pakistan would take six used engine to use it for 90 days to check its ability.
They said that both the countries would sign an agreement about provision of railway engines if the test was passed.
In this regard, a team of Pakistani railways experts would visit Spain to inspect the used engines while a Spanish team would tour Pakistan to review the scope of investment in Pakistan Railways.
Sources said General Manager Operation of Pakistan Railways Ishfaq Khattak had explained it to Spanish ambassador that they would proceed the affair further if six engines passed the test.
Pakistan Railways has badly affected due to shortage of engines and it has only 160 engines and needs 400 engines to activate the whole system.

source: Pakistan Observer

RENFE Spanish Railways admits the Madrid Málaga AVE has not met expectations

 

 

The line is not attracting as many leisure travellers as forecast
RENFE Spanish railways have admitted that the AVE high speed service between Madrid and Málaga has not reached the previous expectations of the travellers.
President of Renfe, Teófilo Serrano, suggested that could be it does not connect to the Western Costa del Sol and admitted that perhaps they had not promoted the service enough.
Since opening in December 2007 the line has carried 5.5 million travellers and last year reached 1.5 million users, still below the initial forecasts of 2 million. Most of the users of the line currently are on business, not tourist or leisure travellers.

 

source: typicallyspanish

Spain: EUR 200 million for Madrid-Alicante high-speed rail line

In Madrid, EIB Vice-President Magdalena Álvarez Arza and the Chairman of ADIF, Antonio González Marín, signed a second EUR 200 million loan instalment. The EIB will provide a total of EUR 900 million for this project.
EIB Vice-President Magdalena Álvarez underlined the “strategic importance of developing the high-speed network that will foster better rail communications between the EU regions and undoubtedly generate safety, efficiency and sustainability gains in the transport of both goods and people. This EIB loan will improve the project’s financial coverage while contributing to the achievement of the European Union’s transport objectives”.
She went on to say that “the EIB’s commitment to promoting the growth of high-speed rail is demonstrated by the three memorandums of understanding signed by the Bank, the Ministry of Public Works and ADIF to finance the expansion of the high-speed network in Spain.”
The project consists of the construction of a high-speed line between Madrid and Alicante, with a branch to Murcia. It includes the construction of Albacete, Alicante, Elche and Murcia stations. The new line is designed to encourage users to switch from road and other forms of transport to rail, with the resultant safety, comfort and time-saving benefits on journeys between Madrid and south-east Spain, and above all a positive environmental impact.
The Madrid-Alicante link forms part of the EU’s priority trans-European transport networks (TENs) and will therefore also attract EU cohesion and structural fund financing. Combined EU funding, including the EIB loan, will cover around 34% of the total investment cost.
The project is being financed under the third memorandum of understanding between the Bank, the Ministry of Public Works and ADIF, signed in 2009, which provides for financing of up to EUR 5 billion for high-speed lines in Spain.

source: EIB

Madrid - Valencia AVE high speed train starts December 18

The service to Albacete starts on December 15

The date that AVE high speed train services will start between Madrid and Valencia has been announced as December 18. The service to Albacete will start three days earlier.

The date was confirmed by the Minister for Development, José Blanco, on Saturday, who said that there would be at least 13 AVE 102 ‘Pato’ trains a day between Madrid and Valencia. There will be a train every hour in each direction at peak times, and RENFE Spanish railways estimates that the line will carry 2.8 million passengers a year. Journey time between Madrid and Valencia will be 90 minutes.

The trains are made by Talgo-Bombardier, can reach 330 kms/hour and carry 365 passengers in the standard configuration.

The Minister claimed the new route makes Spain the country with the most kilometres of high velocity track.

source: Typically Spanish