Junta demands Spanish government release Costa del Sol train studies to the public

The Andalusian parliament is preparing to bring the motion next week and will include calls for the toll on the AP-7 to be temporarily lifted

Héctor Barbotta

Sevilla

Friday, 5 April 2024, 15:40

The Costa del Sol railway connection has finally found a place in the Andalusian political agenda. The Andalusian parliament will in next week's plenary session demand the Spanish government make public its existing studies on the possible options for a railway connection linking Malaga city to the western Costa del Sol.

The move comes after the Spanish minister for transport ruled out extending the local railway line to Marbella.

In January 2018, during the last stage of the Partido Popular government, the then minister of public works, Iñigo de la Serna, presented in Marbella a series of studies analysing the possible options to bring the railway connection to the Costa del Sol town and Estepona. Five options had been analysed, of which the ministry opted for two with costs of 2.37 and 3.85 billion euros.

The project was then forgotten, despite money being set aside in the general state budget to fund these reports for several years. Since 2005, this accumulated to almost 8.5 million euros. However, when questioned about it, minister of transport Óscar Puente said, "There is not a single piece of paper."

Now, the Partido Popular group in the Andalusian parliament will use one of its two quotas for the next plenary session to present a motion demanding the Spanish government make public, as a matter of urgency, the content and progress of the different studies held by the ministry on the Costa del Sol railway line.

Planning

It is also proposed to include in these studies the planning of the Andalusian Mediterranean rail link, with the first phase linking Malaga with the Campo de Gibraltar. The motion will also include a request to temporarily suspend the toll on the AP-7 until there is a satisfactory public transport system in the area as an alternative to private vehicles.

Unique situation

The motion states there is no other area in Spain similar to that of Malaga and the Costa del Sol which lacks public transport options. The coast between Nerja and Manilva - 170 kilometres of coastline - is the third major urbanised stretch in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona.

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