Cables removed from Vélez-Málaga tram network

Fourteen years after the Vélez-Málaga tram ceased operating, part of its infrastructure continues to show signs of deterioration caused by the passing of time, vandalism, disuse and a lack of maintenance. Alsa, the urban transport management company has in recent months removed cables and other damaged components at various points along the old route which ran between Vélez and Torre del Mar on the eastern Costa del Sol.

The latest work was carried out in the vicinity of María Zambrano park, in what is known as the second phase of the tram infrastructure, which never actually entered service despite a public investment of around 40 million euros. Workers from a specialist company have removed components that had become loose or had fallen onto the track and which could have posed a risk to people passing through the area.

The work was carried out last week after local residents had reported, several weeks earlier, the presence of cables and other damaged parts next to the park, one of the main green spaces in Vélez’s town centre. The Local Police helped to coordinate the operation carried out by the specialist firm.

The councillor for transport, Celestino Rivas, explained to SUR that the town hall had received requests in recent months from both local residents and opposition groups to take action on this section due to the potential danger to pedestrians. According to the councillor, similar work has been carried out at other points along the infrastructure where damaged elements have been identified.

Sources at the town hall have explained that this work forms part of the maintenance carried out on infrastructure that has been out of service since June 2012. The aim, they maintain, is to remove any elements that may pose a danger and gradually refurbish the most dilapidated areas, without this constituting a complete dismantling of the old tram system, as sources consulted by SUR have pointed out.

The Vélez tram was the first modern system of its kind to come into operation in Andalucía. It began operating in October 2006 when Antonio Souvirón of the socialist PSOE party was mayor, but ceased operations in June 2012 after just six years of service, with Francisco Delgado of the centre-right Partido Popular (PP) as mayor. Since then, the infrastructure and the trams have gradually fallen into disrepair.

The prospect of reviving the service gained momentum again several years later with a European grant of 3.7 million euros, awarded in 2022 to kick-start its revival. However, in July 2025, the town hall had to hand back the money as it considered that bringing the tram back into service would require a total investment of over 15 million euros – a sum it described as "unaffordable" without funding from other authorities.

The transport landscape has also changed in 2026 with Vélez-Málaga’s accession to Malaga city's metropolitan transport consortium. The town hall is now negotiating the integration of its local buses and university transport into this body and is working on the relevant economic and financial studies.