The new train stop on Avenida de la Igualdad in Cordoba You will have to wait. The Government, which recently ruled out once again, in a response to the Senate, the possibility of creating a stop next to the Palais des Expositions, des Foires et des Congrès, will now have to relaunch the contract for the basic project of the judgment together with an informative study on this subject must be drawn up by the Ministry of Transport.
This was confirmed to the ABC by government sources who detailed how the basic contract for the project that existed had been suspended “and is currently being resolution and liquidation by mutual agreement with the winning company. This means that until the problem is resolved, new project development procedures cannot be initiated.
The sources consulted did not specify the cause of this liquidation of the contract, although among the reasons could be the time lag that has elapsed since its drafting until today and the need to update the project.
Five years ago, ADIF entrusted the company Ingérop T3 with the consultancy and technical assistance services for this stopover between the Centrale and the Rabanales Campus and that it was looking for greater coverage and frequency in an area with more residents and potential users. It had to be ready by the end of 2020, in the middle of a pandemic.
This project aimed at integrating the station into the urban environment (pedestrian access via Pedroche Street), the uniqueness of the railway location and the existing infrastructure, with a view to its future construction. The construction site was located at the western entrance to the underground tunnel of the Cordoba high-speed line, at the confluence of the Almogavares Avenue with Equality Avenue.
Transport information study
Likewise, this work in the process of being liquidated has made it possible to establish the number of turnstiles and vending machines, bicycle parking lots to promote sustainable transport and different output and input streams taking into account that two high-speed roads pass through this point (those located further south) and one with conventional gauge (the one further north, as shown in the photograph accompanying this information).
For now, the clock is reset to zero with only one more informative study of which there is no further news for the moment. This newspaper contacted these days the Ministry of Transport know his situation without having received an answer. Everything indicates that this has not yet started either.
The new stop on the Córdoba Cercanías line has become another project frozen in time, since discussions began shortly after the new rail service began in 2016. For a few years, its location was up in the air, since the first government of Jose Maria Bellido (2019-2023) bet more on place it in Fatimabut ADIF carried out a technical study that established the suitability of Avenida de la Igualdad, at the very end of the Vial. Larger resident population and greater probability of user flow and accessibility – this location is just over a kilometer from Córdoba Central Station.
At the same time, the Municipal Council stressed the need to promote the uses of Exhibition, fair and congress center -already in operation- with a stopa proposal categorically rejected by the Government. In this mandate, the mayor of Córdoba even raised the possibility that the municipal coffers cover part or even all of the amount, thinking of a basic platform to get on and off passengers and not too expensive.
One of the arguments put forward by ADIF in response to the mayor’s remarks was the influence on the services, timetables and stops of the trains that already run there, but the City Hall insisted that not all of them should stop every day, but only when there were events in the Congress premises located next to the Jewelry Park. Imitate a little bus offer that Aucorsa launched to transport passengers to Air Nostrum flights at the airport, or to the Palais des Expositions et des Congrès itself (most recently by Intercaza).
This slowdown translates into a line that, if not for the use of university students on the Rabanales campus, does not accumulate a significant flow of travelers from Villarrubia to Alcolea, the claim that, at the time, generated demand for this Cercanías train. The subsequent increase in frequencies from Palma del Río to Villa del Río by the government in the so-called “proximity train” reinforced the use. ADIF also launched a call for tenders for the projects of two stations in Almodóvar del Río and Montoro to strengthen this service on the Guadalquivir Valley.
The railway infrastructure entity explained in a recent response to PP senator Cristina Casanueva its plans to improve this conventional network that extends over the 106.4 kilometres that exist between the city of Palma and the city of Villarreal. The actions, according to ADIF, aim to “strengthen the reliability and capacity for the movement of passengers and goods in a strategic axis of the network in Andalusia”. The end result should be that the Palma-Villa del Río line hosts both local services and “rail highways” for the transport of goods.
rail highways
The state entity has launched a call for tenders for 9.6 million euros for the development of the project of the modernization of this network which will include the replacement of track elements and their electrification, the adaptation of the gabilos and the reinforcement of infrastructures such as drainage, underpasses, trenches and embankments. At the stations along the route, the tracks will be rationalized, the catenary will be renewed and the crossing between platforms will be improved. Some future actions that will surely disrupt ordinary traffic.
The axis between Palma del Río and Villa del Río is part of the Alcázar de San Juan (Ciudad Real)-Cádiz linea “fundamental corridor of the Andalusian conventional network” according to ADIF. As for passenger traffic, it is part of the Cadiz-Jaén connections (which pass through Seville and Cordoba). As for goods traffic, on which Cordoba has all its eyes fixed, it is the hub that connects the ports of Algeciras and Malaga with those of Seville, Cadiz and Huelvaand all, in turn, with the north of the peninsula passing through Despeñaperros.
In addition, this section of the Guadalquivir Valley must accommodate the traffic of two railway highways: the Villa del Río-Córdoba Mercancías del central branch of the Mediterranean corridor (Zaragoza-Algeciras) and the Córdoba Mercancías-Palma del Río intersection, for the exit towards Huelva.
