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Ignacio Lillo
Malaga
Wednesday, 20 March 2024, 12:54
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The Malaga metro is getting ready to offer its most extensive range of services during Holy Week, which is about to begin. The biggest milestone for the city's urban transport system will be the uninterrupted 24-hour service, which will start at 6.30am on Holy Wednesday and run until 2.30am on the morning of Good Friday to Holy Saturday. Therefore, there will be 68 hours of uninterrupted service, according to Junta de Andalucía.
The special Semana Santa operation will also involve extending the commercial service until 2.30am on Palm Sunday, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday and Good Friday. As such, the timetables will be adapted to the needs of visitors heading to the city centre during these key days of Semana Santa. The idea is to cover the forecast demand from passengers, which increased significantly in 2023 following the opening of the metro extension into the heart of the city centre, with more than half a million passengers transported.
An increasingly popular option for users, especially those coming from areas outside the city, is to park their vehicles at the Martín Carpena Palacio de Deportes or on the Teatinos university campus, and from there take the metro to reach the city centre.
Train frequency will be increased from the normal service levels to one train every five minutes during peak periods and to nine minutes and 30 seconds during off-peak periods, thanks to the recent expansion of the fleet with a total of 18 train units operating on the tracks.
As a novelty this year, the Atarazanas metro station - located in the Alameda Principal and very close to Calle Larios - will operate as normal as both an arrival and departure station, after the experience of last Easter confirmed the flow of pedestrians in the area would allow this to happen. This was agreed at the recent coordination meeting between the authorities, Local Police and the National Police forces.
The company running the metro concession will also reinforce the train, security and surveillance staff, so that at night all the units will have security staff. The service will have the use of 41 security guards who will work in shifts.
In order to meet the needs of users, the opening hours of the customer service office (located at El Perchel station) have also been extended. In addition to serving the public on Palm Sunday from 9am to 10pm, it will be open from 8am to 10pm on the remainder of the days of Holy Week. Metro stations and stops are all equipped with intercoms through which passengers can also communicate with staff in the event of any incident or need for information. The company recommends that passengers, given the massive influx expected, should top-up their tickets in advance to avoid queues and long waiting times.
Lines 1 and 2 of the Malaga Metro consist of 13.6 kilometres of route and 19 stops and stations, including the extension to Atarazanas. It began operating commercially in July 2014, so it has been providing service to the public for almost ten years, a period during which it has carried more than 60 million passengers.
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