The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (Mitma) has reached an agreement with the Generalitat of Catalonia to begin the administrative and economic processing of two of the four agreements that were included in the protocol signed between both administrations last July and whose objective is to improve connectivity and promote sustainable mobility.
The estimated investment for these two agreements is 420 million euros, which will be financed by the ministry directly or through Adif, according to Mitma, through a statement.
Specifically, an agreement has been reached on the text in the Interchange Agreement for the execution of interchanges between the general interest railway network and the regional network, which will have an approximate cost of 36 million euros, and in the Maresme Agreement for the execution of actions in Maresme, derived from the transfer of the N-II highway, whose estimated investment is 384 million euros.
The agreements are provided for in the one hundred nineteenth and one hundred twentieth additional provisions of Law 31/2022, of December 23, on the general budgets of the State for the year 2023.
The objective is to develop road and rail infrastructure and also improve connectivity on existing roads in order to "promote active and sustainable mobility with pacification actions, bike lanes or energy efficiency."
"We must highlight the ministry's commitment to the Maresme region and to the railway. We have reached an agreement to make agreements a reality that will improve mobility in the entire region, where the railway will also be present, and enhance the train service and the connectivity of the Vallès Occidental," said the Secretary of State, David Lucas, during the celebration of the 175th anniversary of the first railway line on the Peninsula, between Barcelona and Mataró, where he announced the signing of both agreements.
"In mid-2023 we have exceeded 1,150 million euros of execution in the Rodalies Plan, 33% of the total investment planned for 2020-2025, with more than 160 actions underway. Among them, the doubling of line R stands out. -3, currently being executed; the purchase of 101 new trains; or the installation of new, safer signaling systems," Lucas detailed.
Likewise, he recalled the challenges that the railway faces, and on which the ministry works, are the improvement of daily mobility, the increase and take-off of freight transport by rail and the democratization of high speed.
After reaching this first agreement, the ministry and the Generalitat continue working on the definition of the texts of the other two agreements included in the protocol signed in July and also provided for in the 2023 General Budgets.
These are the AP2-AP7 Agreement for the execution of actions to improve the connectivity of both roads, and the Pyrenean Axis Agreement for the execution of the action plan on the N-260.
