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Spain's Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Oscar Puente, confirmed this week that construction of the high speed rail line between Murcia and Andalucía remains on track, although he stopped short of giving a firm date for when the service will actually launch.

 

Speaking during a visit to the site of the new station in the Andalucían capital, Mr Puente reaffirmed the government's commitment to the project, insisting he wouldn't "change the dates because there is no reason to do so."

 

He also revealed that the authorisation process with the State Railway Safety Agency is due to begin in the fourth quarter of this year, and confirmed that conventional train services between Almería and Granada should be restored before next summer, which he described as an early step towards the phased rollout of the high speed line to Murcia.

 

Mr Puente described the project as Almería's gateway to the Mediterranean Corridor, pointing out that more than €2.7 billion of the total €3.6 billion budget for the Murcia-Almería axis has already been spent.

 

Spain's Minister of the Presidency, Mr Bolaños, who joined the visit to the Almería site, said the project was entering its final stages.

 

"We can say that we are so close we can almost touch it," he told reporters.

 

He explained that work on every section between Murcia and Almería has either been completed or is already underway, with the project having moved past the planning and bidding stages and into track laying and electrification, adding that this progress is "thanks to the enormous commitment of the Spanish Government, accompanied by an investment of 2.7 billion euros."

 

The Andalucían regional government used the visit to press Madrid for faster progress on the wider Mediterranean Corridor. Andalucía's Minister of Public Works and Mobility, Mr Muñoz-Atanet, described the rail link as "a crucial step" in connecting Andalucía, the Region of Murcia and the rest of the Mediterranean.

 

"This project represents progress on three levels," he said. "At the regional level, it connects Andalucía to the Mediterranean Corridor and, therefore, integrates it into Europe. At the provincial level, it brings the AVE high speed train to a city that has historically been poorly connected by rail, in addition to creating an important corridor for the export of goods, essential for the province's agricultural activity. And at the local level, it allows for urban transformation by eliminating a barrier that has historically divided the city, being the only full rail integration currently underway in our region."

 

He went on to acknowledge the scale of the challenge still ahead.

 

"We know that the Mediterranean Corridor works are complex and require time, but we also know how long the people of Almería and Andalucía have waited to overcome their historical rail isolation. Therefore, with institutional loyalty and inter-agency collaboration, we trust that the Ministry will dedicate all necessary resources and make every effort to expedite the pending projects."

 

Image: Ministry of Transport