100% of the 1,800 kilometers of the Mediterranean Corridor (CM) is already planned, 75% of the sections are under construction or have already been completed and 85% of the CM already has an approved project. These are data from the Spanish Government commissioner for this infrastructure, Josep Vicent Boira, who adds that "passenger stations and freight terminals, as well as their accesses, are either under construction or have been completed."
The conclusion is that the Mediterranean corridor is currently in an advanced state of execution. In turn, the sections that connect these nodes are also mostly in the construction phase or have already been completed. Boira appreciates that with this planning "we already know the solution in each section of the corridor." As an example, he points out, in recent months the solutions planned for the construction of a new passenger station at the Girona airport have come out to public information or the one derived from the complementary study carried out by Mitma for the variant of Torrellano.
That 85% of the sections have their project approved is another guarantee of compliance with the deadlines. By way of example, last March the project that includes the solution for burying the tracks passing through Lorca was approved, and in January, also of this year, the electrification project for the section between Murcia and Lorca.
Regarding the execution of the works, a few months ago the contracts for the Murcia-Cartagena section between Torre Pacheco and Riquelme were awarded. Likewise, one of the most important works in the corridor, the access channel to the future Parque Central de València station and connection with the through tunnel, was awarded for a value of more than 443 million euros.
Finally, in terms of km of sections already in service, these add up to a total of 634, which represents 34% of the total of 1,800 km. The last milestone reached was the arrival of the AVE to Murcia last December, to which another 24 km will be added imminently with the commissioning between Moixent and La Encina, and another 70 km of the second will be added soon. road between Valencia and Castelló.
Josep Vicent Boira concludes that "each and every one of the sections of the Mediterranean corridor has a folder, an administrative file, a contract that define it under one of its action formulas: functional study, planning, project or work". A conclusion that he compares with the data from 2018, "when 40% of the broker did not have any official document that established their future."
In five years, he adds, a solution has been found, which will be scalable, to the Mediterranean corridor “and which will allow the works to be updated, increasing routes and connections as the operation requires it. We have learned from the past that we should not build infrastructure for the sake of building it.” "Today we have a realistic, scalable and comprehensive plan for the Mediterranean corridor."
