The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has announced that the Valencia through tunnel will be extended underground to Albuixech to avoid affecting the orchard. “There is no way to do it any other way,” he has assured, and has guaranteed that it is an “irreversible” decision. “We are convinced that the most operational decision is to extend the tunnel a little and take it to Albuixech to minimize the effects on the orchard,” he explained in an informative breakfast on Cadena SER about this railway infrastructure that is part of the Mediterranean Corridor.
In October 2021, Transport published the informative studies of the Valencia railway tunnel or through axis and the High Speed Line (LAV) between this capital and Castellón, two infrastructures claimed for years and whose execution has been postponed due to successive economic crises and budget adjustments. The minister revealed this Friday that of the alternatives that the Government was considering, it will opt for one of the most expensive because it involves extending the tunnel so that it comes to the surface through the municipality of Albuixech.
Puente, in response to questions from the network's regional director, Bernardo Guzmán, has reiterated the Government's “commitment” to the Mediterranean Corridor, which is advancing at “cruising speed” although it “resists” in establishing specific deadlines. “We are working on a complementary study to extend the tunnel to Albuixech and avoid the orchard, which is protected, and also separate the environmental processing of the Albuixech–Castellón section to decongest that section as soon as possible. According to the minister, it is the most operational decision because, although it means extending the tunnel and increasing the cost, it will facilitate environmental processing and avoid affecting a protected area, such as the orchard.”
Puente has reiterated that the through tunnel, which will avoid the bounces that services with origin or destination to the north currently have to make, saving between 10 and 15 minutes, has an estimated budget of at least 1,000 million euros and is a fundamental piece for the articulation of the Mediterranean Corridor, since it will benefit both the railway connections of the city of Valencia, as well as Almería or Barcelona.
The Minister of Transport has also announced that before the end of 2024 the specifications will be ready to tender the project for the capital's new central station, which will put an end to the provisional nature of the Joaquín Sorolla station, inaugurated in 2010. The Ministry has advanced that a competition is going to be called to design the new station as has been done for the Madrid Chamartín Clara Campoamor or Abando-Indalecio Prieto stations (Bilbao).
The intermodal station will resolve the railway functionality on three floors, adapting to future capacity demands and integrating conventional medium and long distance services, High Speed, Cercanías, metro and tram. In addition, the building will be planned, a new city landmark, which will combine elements of the past with a new mobility model, the ministry explained in a subsequent statement.
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Regarding the burying of the Serrería tunnel, the socialist minister has been in favor of this “eminently urban planning” work, but “with conditions”: that the Generalitat and the Valencia City Council collaborate to “find a financing solution. “It is not excessively expensive but we have to be fair with all the territories, so we are going to talk about financing,” he pointed out in reference to the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, and the Valencian president Carlos Mazón. “If there is an agreement, it does not have to take long,” he said.
Puente has confirmed his department's commitment to the elimination of the level crossing in Alfafar, as agreed with the municipalities of Alfafar and Sedaví, after this black spot accumulated dozens of deaths over the years. The affected municipalities demand the burying of the level crossing but “what that area needs at this moment is an immediate solution to the safety problems. And that involves resolving the level crossing issue urgently.
“If what we want is to solve this problem in the short term, we have to close the level crossing, look for an alternative, which there is, of soft integration in the short term and facilitate permeability in that area while preserving security.” , which is the most immediate,” he added. Adif is finalizing the traffic reorganization studies, which it will share with the city councils once they are completed, and will subsequently draft the project for the level crossing removal works.
No, for now, to another runway for Alicante airport
Regarding the northern expansion of the port of Valencia, the head of Transport has stressed that “it is unstoppable” as far as the Government of Spain is concerned because, he recalled, there are pending judicial issues that do not depend on the Executive. “If it is about political will, the decision has been made,” said Puente, who has also emphasized that the filling of the north pier will not add new environmental damage to the coast because the project provides for compensation. “Let's think about the environmental advantages, more goods will leave by train and we will take 1,000 trucks a day off the V-30. “We will eliminate a traffic jam,” the minister argued. “Without economic growth there will be no decarbonization,” he pointed out after stating that if Spanish ports do not grow, it will be the ports in North Africa that will do so and the atmosphere will not benefit.
Regarding the future of Alicante airport, the minister explained that the infrastructure Master Plan contemplates future capacity expansions that will be carried out when, from a technical point of view, they are necessary. Thus, he recalled that the Government and Aena are always willing to invest to adapt the capacity of the airports to future demand, so the aerodromes of the Generalitat Valenciana will not be an exception when the case arises.
“In the case of the Valencia and Alicante airports, they are working with a master plan in hand that foresees expansions within the plan itself, therefore, they will be executed when they are considered necessary; In the case of Alicante, there are some works that are currently in the almost beginning phase of execution and Adif is working on the accesses in the airport access project,” he indicated.
However, it has ruled out an imminent expansion of the Alicante airfield. “At this moment, Alicante traffic is covered by the current facilities, even with the growth forecasts, but that does not mean that the expansion is not contemplated and it does not mean that it will not be done if the airport manager “considers it,” he stated in this regard, emphasizing that this airport still has the capacity to grow and that the second runway is in the Master Plan and will be built when the technicians decide that it is necessary.
Mazón, “a little bipolar” regarding the minister's position on the port
The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has said of the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, that he is “a close, pleasant and talkative man” and also “a little bipolar”, regarding his position regarding the expansion of the port of Valencia. “A few days ago (I) was the best, after announcing the expansion of the port of Valencia, and now this minister does not want Valencia,” he said when asked about his relationship with Mazón and how the Consell values that they share PPCV and Vox.
Puente has stated that at the moment he has “little experience” in dealing with Mazón and has wondered “what his plan is” for the Valencian Community. Faced with this, she has vindicated the role that in her opinion the Minister of Science, Diana Morant, will play as leader of the opposition in the Community when she is ratified in a few weeks as general secretary of the PSPV.
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