SUR coastal train campaign
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José Rodríguez Cámara
Torremolinos
Tuesday, 13 August 2024, 12:23
The local councils in Malaga, Torremolinos, Benalmádena and Fuengirola, the four municipalities where Renfe's Costa del Sol local C1 commuter train line operates, have sent a letter to Spain's ministry of public works with a set of common requests with which they want implemented to improve the operation of the service. The key, according to the document to which SUR has had access, is that they are "short-term measures which do not involve a major budgetary commitment".
It all revolves around the daily timetabled services between Malaga city and Fuengirola. According to the current contract between the Spanish government and state railway operator Renfe, these should number 104 a day. This is the case from Monday to Friday, but on Saturdays and Sundays, when demand is also high, the number of trains is reduced to 98. The four local administrations believe it is feasible and necessary to equalise services seven days a week.
In the letter sent to the government, once again, these municipalities, en bloc, appeal to the legal framework that covers the C-1 commuter line so that, as stated in the fifteenth clause of the contractual agreement, once the 104 daily circulations have been established, they can be increased. The crux of the matter is not to exceed the frequency of 20 minutes.
The proposal, at this point, is that the fixed periodicity should be "real". The argument for this request is that, throughout the day, trains run every half hour or even every thirty-five minutes. This is, the local governments argue, "a strategy followed to try to meet the current timetable of the service without exceeding 104 trains". In view of this, they are committed to always maintaining the twenty minute frequency between trains, "given the very high demand for this service and the necessary improvement in mobility".
If the number of trains is increased, it is argued, it is also feasible to put an end to another of the deficiencies observed in the Costa del Sol railway service, which is that the last Cercanías train leaves, as a general rule, from the centre of Malaga at 11.30pm. This prevents, the letter points out, allowing passengers to catch trains for flights that land or take off from Malaga Airport during the night.
To make this plan possible, the councils are also committed to increasing the size of the trains, which would undoubtedly allow more passengers, and which would mean the modification of only three stops on the current route between Malaga and Fuengirola. According to technical sources, a Cercanías train carries 600 passengers, a capacity which, according to the experiences reported by the passengers themselves, is exceeded at many times of the day. In this document from the town councils, which is highly technical in tone, it is argued that these solutions do not require a significant outlay and that, nevertheless, their application would give immediate results. A short-term plan that allows progress to be made and does not imply any renunciation of other major works that are necessary.
The justification for the letter, which was sent after a meeting held to analyse the coastal train project and mobility on the Costa del Sol, is the implementation of a specific plan for the current Cercanías model on the coast, although without closing the door on the possibility of this working document being Andalusian in scope. As on other occasions, the argument for the implementation of this improvement is the comparison with other regions in Spain. As the councils of Malaga, Torremolinos, Benalmádena and Fuengirola point out in the joint document, this roadmap does exist for Catalonia, Madrid, Cantabria, Asturias and Valencia.
Once again, if we put Malaga's Cercanías service in context with those of other parts of the country, the margin for improvement is evident. While on the Malaga route there are 6.7 train movements per 100,000 inhabitants, in Madrid, for the same number of inhabitants, there are 20.9; in Barcelona: 52.1, and in Valencia 40.6.
In conclusion, the aim is to increase the number of daily services on the Costa del Sol, beyond the 104 from Monday to Friday, which is the minimum planned in the short term, in order to increase the service, especially at night, and put an end to the "vacuum" that begins at 11.30pm.
Municipal sources suggest that there is "optimism" about the willingness to implement these measures, given the tone of the last meeting concerning the trains and mobility on the coast.
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