This is good news for the Valencians. He Valencia Metro will work again next time Tuesday December 3. This is the final date. This is what the council announcedr of the Environment, Infrastructure and Territory, Vicente Martinez Musthis Friday, during a press conference to report on the state of the work to reconstruct infrastructure and the transport network.
Since October 29 the DANA If the southern part of the city was devastated and part of the public transport network became inoperable, many users were forced to look for other alternatives to get to their work centers or simply to get to the city. city center.
Railways of the Generalitat Valenciana (FGV) will recover the entire Metrovalencia service in the lines 3, 5 and 9; and partially in the rest: the 1 and 2 of Bétera and Paterna at the Spanish Stepsand the 7 in Sant Isidre.
Martínez Mus, on the day that marks one month since the fateful DANA, valued the work carried out by FGV “in record time” and the efforts of the staff and all the teams that make up the public company to recover the Metrovalencia service.
“We have set a deadline of December 6 and the FGV largely complies with it,” he stressed. He also highlighted the resumption “in just 10 days” of the tram service, launched on November 9.
The head of Infrastructure specified that during this week, relevant tests were carried out on the metro network in order to recover the service “in complete safety”, once the construction of the metro was completed. new command post in the Machado workshops.
The Minister of Environment, Infrastructure and Territory, Vicente Martínez Mus, during the traffic tests to recover the Metrovalencia lines. Europa Press / Robert Solsona
“It was important to achieve this today. It is good news and a good sign and it allows us to see the end of the tunnel that has been difficult for us to navigate these days. They are steps towards normality“Mus said.
Thus, from the early hours of next Tuesday, December 3, lines 3 (Airport-Rafelbunyol), 5 (Airport-Marítim) and 9 (Airport-Alboraia Peris Aragó) will enter service in their entirety, while line 1 will run between Bétera and Plaça Espanya, 2 between Paterna and Plaça Espanya and 7 between Marítim and Sant Isidre.
He notably specified that the service between Paterna and Llíria (line 2) will take “a few more days” to come into service due to the adaptation work underway in the Fuente del Jarro stop and that they are not yet finished, although he has guaranteed that they will be “before Christmas“.
Metrovalencia map with the new services that will be launched on December 3. EE
In all cases, the metro service will be “adapted to the circumstances”. For the moment, the schedule will be the usual one regarding the start of the days, while the frequency of passage will be similar to that of Saturday. Night service will not be provided and restrictions on scooters and bicycles will remain.
“I don’t think users will end up realizing it, but this is the way to start,” Martínez Mus said in reference to the resumption of service.
Replacement bus
The councilor recalled that during this period without metro, they launched 25 replacement lines that they added “day by day, as needed”, with the difficulty of covering a service like the metro with buses. “The reception capacity is not the same, nor the functioning of the streets either.” he said.
While 100% of the infrastructure is recovered, complementary or replacement bus lines will continue to operate in the southern areas and on line 2, between Paterna and Llíria, to compensate for the lack of metro.
Map of services that will operate again in Metrovalencia from December 3. EE
Mus indicated that with the vehicles released cWith the resumption of trains next Tuesday, all alternative services still in service will be reinforced, so that the service is as similar as possible to the usual.
“We have to take into account that we have had a reduction of a lot of machines, around thirty trains suffered damage of varying severity and some of them are not yet operational, which means we cannot provide the full frequency intensity,” he said.
Southern zone affected
Concerning the southern zone of the Metrovalencia network, the most affected by the floods – from Valencia South -, the councilor stressed that they are working with a margin of “five or six months” to recover the service in this section, given that important interventions are necessary, such as the installation of the tracks themselves or new catenaries.
Of course, he clarified that they work in a “intermediate phase” to be able to reopen València Sud, “one more addition”, and that it functions as a intermodal station “in a short time”, where trains will be able to connect with buses that replace service to southern cities like Paiporta, Picanya, Torrent or Picassent.
Precisely, in València Sud, work continues to recover the FGV facilities damaged by DANA, including the command post, which must be “completely” rebuilt. Also the reconstruction of the Paiporta bridge, which “is already underway”.
In this regard, Martínez Mus assured that the temporary center installed in the Machado workshops will be maintained in the future to be able to guarantee the Metrovalencia service “in all circumstances”.
