The previous technical, environmental and economic feasibility study published by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility determined that Analysis of demand and socio-economic profitability of the train between Guadix (Granada) and Lorca (Murcia) “they do not justify the development of any of the alternatives proposed” to reopen the line at this time.
“In addition, the development of a new Lorca-Guadix connection would not contribute to the achievement of the intended objectives in the current strategic sectoral planning, and in particular that of the strengthening of the Mediterranean and Atlantic corridors, reflected in the Indicative Strategy for the Development, Maintenance and Renewal of the Railway Infrastructure, since this route is not part of any of the previous ones”, indicates the document consulted by Europa Press.
It is The second railway line that the Ministry of Transport led by Oscar Puente rejects in a few months in AndalusiaAfter last April, the minister ruled out the High Speed between Seville and Huelva. Puente then assured that this line, which would connect Seville to the Portuguese city of Faro by high-speed train, “does not compensate” because it requires a “brutal” investment and only serves to gain “ten minutes”, he explained.
The socio-economic and financial profitability study of the informative study of the Guadix-Lorca line, dated November 2023, was carried out for the four layout alternatives proposed. In the case of the financial analysis, the profitability of the railway infrastructure manager and the railway companies, both in terms of passenger and freight transport, was assessed “in a particular manner”.
“The socio-economic analysis is carried out from a global perspective that represents the whole of society,” explains the document of this “zero” phase of the informative studywhose objectives are precisely “to analyze all possible corridors to develop routes that connect existing lines, in the surroundings of the cities” of Guadix and Lorca, which in turn “are determined by the orographic conditions of the area.”
Outrage in Granada
After publishing the aforementioned document on the Transport website, the railway and economic groups of the north of the province of Granada expressed their rejection of this previous feasibility report, demanding that the advisory commission of the ministry on the matter “reformulate it” using “the money not used in the informative study and include the line in the Mediterranean Corridor route“.
In a press release, the associations of Friends of the Baza Region Railway and of Entrepreneurs of the Altiplano of Granadaand the Guadix Quay near the Train They considered the previous study to be “partial, biased” and “misleading” because it was based on “the anachronistic and obsolete data from this 2017 feasibility report.”
For these railway and economic groups, this is a “I study at a desk without being interested in reality at the foot of the land, nor in the guarantee of the power supply of the 400 kV line, nor in the elimination of polluting emissions by the withdrawal of heavy goods vehicles from the roads, nor in the saving of distances, time and money, nor in the connection with the ports of Algeciras, Malaga, Motril, Almeria and Valencia”, among other factors.
These groups indicated in this context that “they are not throwing in the towel, but rather reaffirming that the reopening of the Guadix-Baza-Almanzora-Lorca railway line is viableprofitable in the medium term and very necessary to structure the southeast of the peninsula, which they have amply demonstrated before the Ministry.”
