The General Secretary of Transport and Mobility, María José Rallo, has presented the new Services of Proximity Palma del Rio-Villa del Río that are launched today. Both towns of Cordoba, together with Posadas, will have since Monday 38 direct services on a working day that, in addition to Córdoba, will communicate them with the stations located in the metropolitan area of Córdoba: Alcolea, El Higuerón, Campus U. de Rabanales and Villarrubia.
The Proximity Services include the relations Villarrubia-Cordoba-Rabanales-Alcolea. Therefore, from today, March 20, all services provided between Palma and Villa del Río and intermediate stations will be considered Proximity Services.
María José Rallo explained that “this is a pilot project that will be developed over the next three years and that is born with a vocation of continuity. It is a service that marks the beginning of a path, starting not from ideas, but from realities that will grow over time.” “ADIF will adapt, with a significant investment that will end before the summer, two stations in the area that are already in service – Almodóvar del Río and Montoro – and as it consolidates, action will be taken.”
He also clarified that “this project is conceived by the Ministry as an intermodal model, where the roads feed the stations and people can catch the train while traveling”, but he clarified that “the road infrastructure depends on the Junta de Andalucía, competent administration within the autonomous community”, so he has been asked to sign a protocol to know what he is going to implement “because the Government is willing to offer the services but we have to know what actions the Junta is going to carry out”.
For his part, the delegate of the Government of Spain in Andalusia, Pedro Fernández, has highlighted how the aforementioned services “expand the current offer of Renfe in the province of Córdoba facilitating intra-municipal travel by train”, between the different municipalities and from them with the Cordovan capital, reaching a total of 391 weekly services, which means “a considerable improvement in the offer of mobility within the province”, which also “gains in new direct relations, until now non-existent, between the municipalities of Palma, Posadas and Villa del Río with the stations located in the metropolitan area of Córdoba: Villarrubia, El Higuerón, University Campus of Rabanales and Alcolea”.
“This is an important moment for thousands of people from Cordoba who, since today, have more rail connections that bring public services closer to them and provide students and workers with a free, safe and accessible means of transport, thus helping to establish a population in the territory,” he added.
In addition, Fernández recalled that in each of them the conditions of gratuitousness of the recurring titles established by the Government for the promotion of collective public transport are applicable, as is the case of the Media Distancia and Cerca de Renfe trains, “of which until March 14 has meant the emission in Andalusia of 278,474 free subscriptions and Avant subscriptions 50% bonus”. All the Proximity Services of Córdoba will have the option of free subscriptions for regular or recurrent travelers under the same conditions in which they are available in the current services.
For occasional travellers, the price of the single ticket with the Proximity fare on journeys from Palma or Villa del Río to Cordoba, for example, will be €4.40, which is a 30% discount on the current price in Media Distancia. The Round Trip ticket for these trips will have a cost of 7 € (3,50 € per trip).
Travellers can check the timetables and purchase tickets through the usual sales channels: App by Renfe, www.renfe.com; 912 320 320 and station lockers.