The European Parliament has accepted the proposal submitted by the previous socialist-led regional government that includes the rail link to Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernandez Airport as part of the Trans-European Transport Network, considered by the EU as a “priority” project.
The proposal also includes the section of the Mediterranean Corridor between Alicante and San Isidro, and the EU project sets 2030 as the deadline to have both routes in operation. The project is now pending the next and monumental stage of being published in the Official Journal, which is imminent.
The San Isidro link has been on the table for around 2 decades and will hopefully become a reality before celebrating 25 years of waiting, whereas the project at the airport includes an underground station. Finances for both are available “practically immediately”.
Inmaculada Rodríguez-Piñero, the PSPV-PSOE MEP, states that “for the first time in history, the Alicante-Elche airport becomes the ‘core’ network (as Europe calls this type of priority projects) of the EU railway corridors.” A measure that “will guarantee European investments in the present and the future and a clear execution horizon.”
The socialist representative has also pointed out that these connections “are key for the development of the new industrial and logistics policy of the EU” as well as for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, since this route, according to Rodríguez-Piñero,” will take tens of thousands of vehicles off the roads.”
