The multisectorial association Ferrmed has called on the candidates for the general elections of 29 November to "define themselves on the proposals that avoid collapse in the Mediterranean Corridor".
The entity issues this call in view of "the serious problems existing in the Mediterranean rail corridor, where the actions envisaged only contemplate an adaptation or change of the track gauge to the international standard, without considering the freight rail traffic objectives established by the European Commission, nor the considerations of the recent 'Ferrmed Study of Traffic and Modal Shift Optimisation in the EU'", it said in a statement.
Ferrmed has detailed that, in the analysis it carried out between 2007 and 2009 on the Mediterranean Corridor, it calculated that the essential investments in Spain amounted to 56,000 million euros. It has stressed that the conclusions of that work were passed on to the Ministry of Development in 2010. Subsequently, in March 2011, then Minister José Blanco presented in Barcelona the action plan for the corridor, valued at 51,300 million.
The organization calls for the Executive that comes out of the ballot boxes on 29N to "do what the then Ministry of Development proposed to do in 2011 in the Mediterranean Corridor and what is now being done for less than half of the amounts calculated by the Ministry itself".
Along these lines, it denounces that "lately work has been carried out on adapting existing lines to the international gauge, but without anticipating future traffic, with a set of investments that do not even reach 50% of what was planned by the Spanish Government in 2011".
Warning of serious congestion in key sections
According to the association, if the actions that Ferrmed has identified as priority 1 are not carried out, which include double or triple platform along the entire route, "we run the risk of serious congestion in several sections of the Corridor, especially in the vicinity of Barcelona, Valencia and Murcia, with serious knock-on effects on the productive economy of companies in the area and on the environment, with the worsening of traffic jams and accidents on the motorways".