Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
THE long-awaited Costa del Sol rail network is inching nearer to fruition – and the first phase will connect Fuengirola and Marbella.
Last week, Javier Salas, a government official in Malaga, announced that connecting Fuengirola and Marbella via rail is both ‘feasible’ and a ‘priority’ for Sanchez’s government.
Salas stressed that because of the scope of the project it will have to be implemented in stages.
He announced that the first line to be built will run between Fuengirola & Marbella.
“The first phase must be the most important, urgent and necessary,” he said. And the route that has always been talked about as the most urgent is Fuengirola-Marbella”.
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Marbella has the largest population in Spain, with over 150,000 people. It is the only city without a rail system. This puts pressure on the road.
Salas also added that data shows “the stretch with the most traffic flow is between Fuengirola Marbella”.
The railway will provide an environmentally friendly alternative to driving, and allow tourists to hop from one coast to another.
A rail network would be able to alleviate the pressure on roads during summer when tourist pressure is at its highest.
It’s still not too late to book train tickets for the summer.
The Spanish Ministry of Transport ordered a feasibility study on the rail in mid-2025.
They offered a €992,000 contract to a consortium of transport companies to conduct the study.
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Salas expects the results to be published in the summer. The conclusions will reveal new information about the rail network.
Salas hopes the findings will put into motion ‘the second major transformation of infrastructure in the province’.
A rail network has been long overdue on the Costa del Sol.
In 1975, the Malaga-Fuengirola Cercanias train opened. This sparked immediate calls to extend it.
Formal planning for a Malaga–Marbella extension began in the 1990s.
In 2004, a study suggested completing the project in 2012, but due to the financial crises it was cancelled.
Could 2020 be the decade when the promised railway is finally realized?
Positive talk and bold declarations by the government suggest that it might just be.
Travel News by The Olive Press.
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