The world is moving towards a new green, circular economy, with emissions as low as possible and, if possible, with less dependence on the outside world. To achieve this, rail connections are decisive for the transport of goods and Galicia, the Atlantic corner that connects Europe with the American market, needs the fastest and most efficient access possible to the heart of the EU. The Atlantic Corridor constitutes that opportunity, despite the fact that it is not advancing at the pace of its Mediterranean cousin. Even so, and in the face of the clash between the central administration and the Xunta, the acting Government yesterday defended its commitment to this infrastructure. 50% of the investment of 1,400 million euros planned by the Central Executive is already tendered or in works. Is about 763 milliona sign, according to him, of his commitment to make Galicia and the entire Northwest more “competitive.”
The figures were put on the table yesterday by the Secretary General of Infrastructure, Francisco Javier Flores, who presided the delegation of the acting Executive that met with the Galician employers’ associationalthough representatives of Pontevedra businessmen did not attend the conclave, for example, in disagreement with the exclusion of the Xunta from the meeting and that it was the fifth meeting, after four attempts that the central administration ended up canceling.
The Atlantic Corridor is one of the European transport networks focused on increasing the percentage of goods distributed through rail, which in Galicia barely reaches 4%.. The European Union’s plan involves linking the entire coast with a freight train – in addition to the passenger train –, connecting the ports with the main distribution nodes, within the community strategy of abandoning fossil fuels. To achieve this, the railway network has to meet minimum quality and interoperability requirements so that transport is agile and competitive, and does not become bogged down due to the implementation of different safety and circulation systems. This requires renewing tracks, completing electrification, reducing slopes, lengthening platforms, expanding the tunnel clearance, improving the radius of curves and connecting ports…
The investment necessary for this reaches 1,400 million in Galicia, according to the Government, although the Xunta endorses the estimate of the Logistics cluster, which raises that figure to 2,200 of a total of 8,000 along the entire route, including Castilla y León and Asturias.
Flores attended the meeting yesterday with the Galician businessmen accompanied by the commissioner for the Corridor, José Antonio Sebastián, and the delegate of the Government in Galicia, Pedro Blanco. The first has not yet met with the Xunta and has not revealed the master plan that will establish an investment schedule for an Atlantic Corridor that was only incorporated into the trans-European network in 2019 with the addition of Galicia, Asturias, Navarra, Aragon and Andalusia. . That plan should be made public next month.
“We wonder if the commitment to have the master plan in October is advanced. We are on September 12 and we don’t know anything about that plan, which had to be in 2019,” complained the Minister of Infrastructure, Ethel Vázquez.
“We are talking about a volume of investments of more than 1,400 million, of which half are already tendered or being executed. There are 763 million already underway“They are not just paper, they are works,” defended Flores, who put the contribution of funds from the European Union at 273 million (20%).
The year 2030 is the first key date, the year in which the fundamental works of the Corridor should be ready, which at a global level will involve an investment of 49,406 million, of which 33,325 have been executed, according to the acting Government.
Yesterday the Executive highlighted the main planned actions, with an awarded expenditure of 140 million for the renewal and electrification of the road between Ourense and Monforte, as well as another 924 for the connection between Vigo, Ponferrada, Astorga and León: 620 million between Guillarei and Ourense, 129 million between Ourense and Monforte and 175 between Monforte and Covas.
In the case of the section between Vigo and A Coruña, the expense will be 100 million to improve the facilitieswith 46.8 to adapt to Iberian gauge and double track part of the route, as well as electrification.
The connection of the port of Ferrol and its “use as a proximity network” will receive 296 million.
Other demands, such as the southern exit of Vigo that directly connects the city with Portugal, are still waiting, although the drafting of the study of alternatives by the acting Ministry of Transport has begun.
Transport wants to meet with the Xunta, which sees its exclusion from the meeting with the employers as a “provocation”
The confrontation between the acting Government of PSOE and Unidas Podemos and the Xunta continues regarding the Atlantic Corridor. A government delegation, headed by the Secretary General of Infrastructure, Francisco Javier Flores, met with the Confederation of Businessmen of Galicia yesterday in Santiago after four canceled attempts. “We have experienced electoral periods that made these meetings difficult,” Flores apologized, accompanied by the Government delegate, Pedro Blanco, and the commissioner for the Corridor, José Antonio Sebastián.
The Xunta, through the Minister of Infrastructure, Ethel Vázquez, made clear its discomfort at having been excluded from the meeting. “Apart from a provocation, it seems like a joke in bad taste to Galicia,” the leader added.
Flores alleged that his superior, the acting Secretary of State for Infrastructure, David Lucas, had summoned Vázquez to a meeting “when agendas allow it.”
For its part, the Galician employers’ association conveyed to Flores the need to promote the works of a Corridor “essential to unite Galicia territorially with the rest of Spain and Europe”, which is why it demanded the incorporation of Galicia to the single window map for its management. and urged a master plan that specifies dates and deadlines.
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