Laurence Dollimore
FORMER Marbella mayor Jose Bernal has called on the Spanish government to finally build a new rail line between Malaga and Marbella.
Bernal and the PSOE held a meeting yesterday with the Tren Litoral group, who are fighting to have the much-needed trainline built.
They concluded that instead of extending the Malaga-Fuengirola route, there must be a new direct and faster train between Marbella and Malaga, with its epicentre at the airport.
The head of PSOE Malaga Miguel Ángel Heredia criticized how the central government ‘has made many announcements since 2013, with promises and photos every year,’ without anything moving forward.
He said the project needs an investment of €1 billion and that ‘it is not an economic problem, but a problem of priorities’ because where the Government has ‘wanted to invest, it has done, like in the railway corridor in Catalunya.’
“Why is there money for other places and it is Marbella that is denied?” He asked. “This project is one of the most important for Marbella and for the province of Malaga and the whole of Andalucia and it is not a whim, it is economically profitable,” he added.
The PSOE will register a Propuesta No de Ley – or bill – in the Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados) where it will propose first that the line between Málaga and Fuengirola be improved, by dividing the single tracks to ‘improve times’.
It will also call for the direct line between Malaga and Marbella to begin construction, with an epicentre to be built at the airport.
Similar to the UK’s House of Commons, representatives from across Spain will vote on the bill to pass it into law.
Heredia said: “Most of the passengers come to Marbella and finding a direct train there would be a great growth for the city, a tourist dynamism,
“As the feasibility studies are not yet finished, we ask the Government not to do a botched job and something that is not competitive, and to do the ambitious project that Marbella deserves.”
Bernal said that the arrival of the train to Marbella ‘is a strategic project for the economic and tourist development of our city and the Costa del Sol.’
“It would completely transform the economy of the Costa del Sol and the entire province and would be a great source of jobs.
“The impact of this infrastructure on the tourism sector would be extraordinarily positive,” said Bernal.
