Institutional thaw between the Ministry of Transport and Madrid City Hall, at least with regard to the work on the A-5. The head of the branch, Óscar Puente, and the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, agreed in a meeting held yesterday “in a cordial tone” to leave in the hands of the technicians the development of a mobility plan that includes the EMT and the Metro, other means that depend on the State, such as Cercanías or the aforementioned R-5, among other solutions. This future collaborative project will be developed as part of the Regional Transport Consortiumwhere all the administrations concerned will debate the best way to alleviate traffic problems in view of December 15, the date on which the first cuts will begin on the highway which will take two years to be buried and through which 80,000 vehicles pass every day .
The meeting was set for 6:30 p.m. at the Ministry of Transport, the same one which, posing as the Bank of Spain, exploded in “La casa de papel”. The meeting was less explosive, even though the two institutions had been sharing accusations (and mobility proposals) through the media for a week.
In fact, the mayor of the city, José Luis Martínez-Almeida – who attended the meeting accompanied by the delegate for urban planning, environment and mobility, Borja Carabante, and his chief of staff, Jorge Moreta – highlighted the first thing he highlighted when leaving the same, almost an hour and a half later, was “the cordiality, institutional loyalty and willingness to resolve the difficulties” of both administrations.
The mayor of the capital stressed that they had two months to work “jointly” on a mobility plan that includes the three competent administrations as well as the municipalities concerned, including Móstoles and Alcorcón. “We present a mobility plan with the alternatives that we consider appropriate but we are open to modifications and improvements,” emphasized Almeida, who also indicated that he was open to adapting it even after December 15, if necessary.
The council will also bring to this negotiating table the possible free R5, a proposal that it considers “relevant and good that it has been put on the table”. One of the angry reactions of the ministry last week was to suggest that this cost be assumed by the Community or by the City Hall, although yesterday, at the end of the meeting, José Antonio Santano, Secretary of State for Transport , was more conciliatory: “We have not closed anything off, we have asked for a consensus and for all parties to be able to provide resources and means.
Renfe reinforcement
Likewise, Santano announced that they were preparing with Renfe to strengthen the C5 Cercanías line and that he believed they could achieve “a significant increase in the number of seats.” In this sense, one of Renfe’s latest proposals reaching the media included the possibility of increasing the capacity of line C5 by 15% up to 14,000 seats. Additionally, Santano said, they have other proposals that they will detail in this new open forum.
Although there was already a first meeting of technicians from both institutions at the beginning of the week, Almeida pointed out, it is foreseeable that there will be many others to reach consensus on this plan. “We understand that this commission has work to do in the coming weeks or months,” Santano said on behalf of the ministry, since the head of the branch, Óscar Puente, rejected Wednesday by Congress, has not made any statement after the meeting. . “From there, what we have expressed is the intention to collaborate with all the means of the ministry so that this work which must be carried out over the coming months is as less problematic as possible,” added the secretary. of state.
It remains to be seen whether after this truce, peace on Twitter will also come. “Just as a gesture, Puente unblocks Carabante on X (Twitter),” Almeida joked. “But let’s get to what’s important, which is politics, not the Twitter thaw.”
