THE long-awaited Costa del Sol rail network is inching nearer to fruition – and the first phase will connect Fuengirola and Marbella.
Last week, Javier Salas, a government official in Malaga, announced that connecting Fuengirola and Marbella via rail is both ‘feasible’ and a ‘priority’ for Sanchez’s government.
Eventually, the line could run from Nerja to Campo de Gibraltar but Salas emphasised that the scale of the project means it will be done in stages.
He unveiled that the line between Fuengirola and Marbella will be the first to be constructed.
He said: “The first phase should be the most urgent, the most necessary. And the route that has always been talked about as the most urgent is Fuengirola-Marbella”.
Marbella is the only Spanish city with a population of more than 150,000 without a rail network, placing a strain on the roads.
Salas added the data shows that “the section with the greatest traffic flow is the stretch between Fuengirola and Marbella”.
The implementation of the railway would provide a green alternative to driving and a means for tourists to seamlessly hop down the Costa.
With tourist pressure exacerbating traffic in summer, a rail network could alleviate pressure on the roads.
But, it’s not quite time to book your train tickets for summer.
The Spanish Ministry of Transport commissioned a feasibility study into the railway in mid-2025.
They offered a €992,000 contract to a consortium of transport companies to conduct the study.
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Salas estimates that the results will be published this summer. The conclusions will provide new details about the train network.
Salas hopes the findings will put into motion ‘the second major transformation of infrastructure in the province’.
The Costa del Sol has been waiting a long time for a rail network.
The Malaga-Fuengirola Cercanias line opened in 1975, sparking immediate calls for its extension.
Formal planning for a Malaga–Marbella extension began in the 1990s.
Then in 2004, a study proposed completing the project by 2012, but it was cancelled due to the financial crisis.
Could the 2020s finally be the decade the promised railway comes into fruition?
The positive talk and bold statements by the government would suggest it just might be.
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