The Mediterranean Corridor advances, but it does so “slowly”. This is the perception of businessmen who suffer every day from the lack of an infrastructure that they consider vital for Spain’s competitiveness at an international level. 25 years of gridlock, six different governments with eight Development Ministers and a new key date for the entry into force of most of this line, 2026. At what point is the Mediterranean Corridor? What remains to be executed?
Quiero Corredor, an initiative that unites, among others, more than a thousand businessmen from the Mediterranean arc who are fighting for the completion of this infrastructure, has been calling for years to build a double international gauge railway platform that runs along the Spanish Mediterranean coast from Algeciras to the French border, uniting the Mediterranean cities with each other and connecting them with Europe. At a technical level, they specify the need to create a double platform to separate passenger and freight trains, increasing their capacity. If this road is finally completed, it will be connected to the trans-European network that runs 3,500 kilometers and concentrates 54% of the inhabitants of Europe and accounts for 66% of the EU’s GDP.
The development of this circular railway network on the peninsula would help to complement the classic radial design that currently exists, facilitating the transport of passengers and goods throughout the national territory and to the rest of Europe. During the last year, according to the businessmen united in this movement, the works of the Mediterranean Corridor “have not been particularly activated. Quite the contrary.”
The level of execution of the sections is very different from each other and some are still on paper
This body carries out a complete review of the state of the works twice a year. According to this report, the level of execution is very different from one section to another, as can be seen on the map, and even in some in which the current Ministry of Transport has considered the work completed, as is the case From the one that connects the French border with Figueres, Quiero Corredor continues to demand that the double track from Portbou to Figueres be converted from Iberian gauge to international gauge, which would make it possible to avoid transfers at the border. The same happens with section two, which extends to Gerona.
In the case of the third section, which connects this city with Barcelona, the existing congestion in La Sagrera and La Llagosta is added to the existence of an Iberian gauge track, pending the construction of the intermodal terminal. In addition, and in conjunction with the fourth section, which reaches Castellbisbal, a Catalan industrial area, there is also the problem of access to the Port of Barcelona, which, according to reports, “have three agreements and are still not implemented, limiting access of goods”. The last date set to complete these actions is the year 2024.
The union with Tarragona, considered the fifth section, has two major commitments underway by the Government: the end of the Castellbisbal tunnels, scheduled for 2022, and the laying of the third rail, which will be completed in 2023.
Communication with the Valencian Community, through Vandellós, has the year 2024 as a key date, although the connection with Valencia depends on, among other things, the decongestion of the tunnel passing through the city which, in his words, “is at the edge of collapse”. In recent days, this work has been released to the public, so it is expected to begin its journey shortly.
As you continue south, the execution level is lower. Thus, the connection with Alicante and Murcia still has parts pending tender, such as the AVE connection in Elche.
From there, one of the big problems is section thirteen, which connects Murcia with Cartagena, which after encountering infrastructure problems will be delayed until 2026.
In five years, those that the business movement Quiero Corredor fulfills, the works of this infrastructure have continued to advance but, according to Vicente Boluda, president of the Valencian Association of Entrepreneurs (AVE), they have done so “very slowly”. In 2016, there were seven sections planned and eleven under construction. During this second semester of 2021, according to the monitoring report of the actions, a large part of those that were then in project have been executed.
From July, last check, until November, progress has been made on four points: the through tunnel and the new double track between Valencia and Castellón, the access channel of the Valencian capital, have been put out to tender for the works between Lorca and Pulpí and those of the La Llagosta intermodal station.
All this to try to get the road between Almería and the French border up and running for the new key date confirmed by the Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, last week, 2026. From this point on, they are in the air the connections with other Andalusian cities, such as Malaga, Granada and the arrival to the port of Algeciras, one of the most relevant in the entire country.
delays
But this is not the first key date that the last six governments and eight ministers of the branch who have passed through New Ministries since this project was launched have pointed out.
With a review of the newspaper library, it can be seen that it was not until 2011 when, during the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and with José Blanco in the ministry, they began to talk about the need to give the Mediterranean Corridor a boost. Until then, the spotlights were focused on the AVE radio network and its arrival in the most important cities in the country with a single origin, Madrid.
In 2011, just two months before Blanco and Zapatero left the Government, the date of 2020 was put on the table for the entry into operation of the entire Mediterranean Corridor, from Algeciras to France.
The project has had several completion dates, but none have come close to being met.
In 2013, it was José Manuel García Margallo, at that time Minister of Foreign Affairs, who called for the completion of the Mediterranean Corridor and urged the then Ministry of Ana Pastor to complete it by 2015 as a “backbone network for Europe”. The European Union had already criticized on several occasions the radial model of high speed that had been promoted years before. But Pastor avoided setting a date and it was not until 2017 when Íñigo de la Serna reacted to the movement promoted by businessmen a year earlier asking for “realism” with the level of execution of the works and the delays in the start-up of the sections. Subsequently, De la Serna himself marked 2023 as the key date to “make a reality” of the connection between Almería and Murcia, a date that will finally be delayed until 2026.
With the change of government and the arrival of José Luis Ábalos at the Ministry of Development in 2018, a new date was set, 2021, but barely a year later, it was delayed until 2025. This last milestone was maintained with the allocation of funds European rescue teams that will arrive in our country and that will serve to carry out part of the work that has been pending for years. Now, a few months later, the date has been delayed again until 2026, the limit by which the actions financed by Brussels must be completed, for the connection between Almería and France and leaving the rest of the network up to Algeciras up in the air until 2030. .
Roig, Goirigolzarri and Boluda
The business movement for the completion of the Mediterranean Corridor has well-known faces among which are, among others, Juan Roig, president of Mercadona; José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, president of CaixaBank; Vicente Boluda, president of Boluda; o Clemente González Soler, president of Alibérico.
More than 1,300 businessmen met last week in Madrid to request the completion of these works. “The development of this infrastructure has benefits that do not allow discussion, both in the economic, environmental, social and territorial spheres,” Boluda pointed out. This idea was also supported by Juan Roig, who pointed out that “if we want to have a supportive Spain, with the same possibilities for all and a healthy economy”, it is important to go beyond the radial design of infrastructures. “Circular Spain is very important and for this the Mediterranean Corridor”.
“This is talking about wealth creation, job creation and social welfare,” said Goirigolzarri, emphasizing the potential of the corridor to connect territories, by complementing the national network with a circular network, and making Spanish companies more competitive, also acting against the phenomenon of empty Spain.
But not only them. Businessmen from the 17 autonomous communities were present at the event, which, in the opinion of Boluda, president of AVE, “demonstrates that what is good for the Spanish Mediterranean is good for Spain as a whole” and that “we businessmen know unite and go together as one on issues that transcend our companies”.