The Secretary of State for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda in office, David Lucas, met this morning with the Minister of Development, Local Cooperation and Fire Prevention of Asturias, Alejandro Calvo, at the headquarters of the Ministry, in Madrid, to whom he has transferred the forecast already advanced by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda that the Variant of Pajares will open next November.
The meeting, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, has been very productive, and shows the wide degree of collaboration and coordination between Mitma and the Principality of Asturias "to continue advancing in the improvement of infrastructures, endowments or equipment" of Asturias.
David Lucas conveyed to the councilor his “satisfaction because the objectives are being met, the deadlines to which we had committed ourselves” to make this milestone possible for the infrastructures of our country and, especially, for Asturias. He added that the emergency drills with freight and passenger trains carried out by Adif and Renfe this week in the Variant of Pajares have been successfully completed.
The head of Mitma, has pointed out that, of these exercises, which have served to verify the operation of the tunnels of the Variant, there is the unprecedented safety jump that is going to occur in the Spanish railway network. As he said, the success of these tests allows us to ratify the commitment and that in the near future we will be in a position to specify the moment of the beginning of the new high-speed service for passengers and goods.
New trains Avril
On the other hand, in relation to the delivery by Talgo of the new S106 trains, the so-called Avril, David Lucas stressed “that the Ministry has complied and is complying with everything that the action of this Department entails, both in terms of the work of the Railway Safety Agency and the other entities and units involved”.
Likewise, it has reported that Talgo has transferred to the Ministry that it will begin to deliver the first units of the new trains in the month of December, if the forecasts of this company are met in the homologation process that this company is carrying out before the Railway Safety Agency.
It should be remembered that the supply has suffered delays compared to the time initially foreseen by Talgo and that, precisely, Talgo requested, through Renfe, an extension for the delivery of the trains, which was accepted by Mitma.
The Secretary of State has indicated that, from the moment the first trains are delivered, it will be possible to start the necessary tests for the start of the line, in particular, the validation of these trains in the new infrastructure through which they must travel and the process of train drivers.
After passing these tests, he said, the new trains could start operating, if everything goes according to plan, in the first quarter of next year. In any case, he emphasized, “we will do everything possible so that they can function immediately, starting with the training of train drivers”.
Proximity Plan
At the meeting, the ministerial director reviewed with the Asturian councilor the measures that are being taken to improve the railway vicinity in Asturias. In this regard, he has reported on the “very satisfactory degree of implementation of the Asturias Proximity Plan, which foresees an investment of 1,491 million euros”. For example, in the case of Adif, the works completed, in execution, in the bidding or drafting phase already represent 68.7% of the total investment in 153 ongoing actions.
In particular, the actions promoted by Adif are 185, with a budget of 1.129 M€. Of these, the works completed, in execution, in the bidding or drafting phase represent 776 M€ (68.7% of the total investment) in 153 ongoing actions.
The plan already in place also includes improvements in stations, with almost 48 million euros, and the acquisition of new rolling stock, with about 362 million (35 new trains).
Other very significant measures that have been implemented for the benefit of users are the implementation of tariff integration, combining all services of Neighbourhoods (Metric Width and Conventional Width) in a single ticket; and the new train school for train drivers in Oviedo.