Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
A NEW map of Malaga Province sketches out an ideal rail network, which would connect almost every corner, from Nerja to Estepona, in the west and even up into inland towns that have been cut off for years.
The design imagines a sweeping overhaul of the province’s rail links at a scale never attempted by regional or national planners – but one which residents argue is richly deserved.
Map showing the C-1 commuter route that extends south from Fuengirola through La Cala de Mijas and Calahonda, and along the coast to Estepona and Marbella.
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The same line will also be extended north to central Malaga, with a new station at Malaga Parque in the vicinity of La Malagueta.
Inland, a proposed C-3 would reconnect Coin, Alhaurin el Grande and Alhaurin de la Torre with the capital – towns that once had rail service but lost it more than half a century ago.
A new C-4 line would bring back trains between Malaga, Velez Malaga, and Nerja. Regional services would continue eastwards to Motril and Almeria.
The plan extends Alora’s existing line to El Chorro, and the Caminito del Rey, in the north. It also brings back historical links with Cordoba.
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It would also extend past Estepona, stopping in long-neglected Sabinillas before heading onwards to Algeciras – possibly stopping in La Linea-Gibraltar as well.
The imagined scale of the network has hit a nerve, because the rapidly growing province is so severely underserved in terms of its transport infrastructure.
Malaga province now has around two million residents – a figure that swells dramatically in summer as hundreds of thousands of tourists and second-home owners arrive
Its commuter rail system is limited to only two short lines. One runs between Malaga, Fuengirola; the other connects Malaga with Alora.
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Several municipalities with populations of tens or hundreds of thousands, including Coin, Velez Malaga and others, lack rail access.
Marbella is the biggest city in Spain with more than 150.000 residents. It relies on traffic, both local and tourist, to get people around a congested coastline.
The lack of rail options in a region that attracts millions international tourists each year has raised many questions.
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Rail links between the airports in Palma de Mallorca and Alicante are far more extensive than those at Valencia or Alicante, despite their similar populations.
Cadiz and Sevilla are two provinces within Andalucia that have lower seasonal demands and enjoy better regional connections.
Transport economists say that the Costa del Sol is geographically expensive for rail expansion, but they also note that its population density, tourism and workforce year-round makes it one of the most popular places in Spain to build new lines.
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The map that circulated in the last week included the Renfe symbol and mirrored the Cercanias official chart design. But there is no proof it’s more than just a pipedream without formal backing.
Neither Renfe nor the Ministry of Transport has announced funding for the lines shown, although several ideas – particularly the long-discussed extension to Marbella – have appeared repeatedly in political debates without making it to the construction phase.
The design is meant to reflect what residents say they need urgently: a rail infrastructure that matches the size of the province, its economy, and the reality of getting from A-B in one of Spain’s fastest growing regions.
The Olive Press has more Malaga News. Click here to read it.
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