The Commissioner for the Proximity Plan of Cantabria, Antonio Berrios, shared this morning the progress and the follow-up of the main actions in the day of the working group on the railway network in the region, held in Santander.
With an investment of more than 1.25 billion euros, the plan will respond to the mobility needs of the territory in different areas: improvement of the passenger service, increase of reliability of the network and the train fleet and improvement of accessibility in stations and urban integration and increase of the network capacity.
The progressive implementation of the plan will contribute to improving the punctuality of the circulations, to place it at levels similar to the rest of the railway network in Spain; it will reduce travel time; it will increase frequencies and improve information and attention to the traveler.
The Commissioner, who has previously met with the Government delegate in Cantabria, Ainoa Quiñones, has reported on the creation of a joint group between Renfe and Adif to work on improving the system of information to the traveler and the mobilization of almost 100 million euros so far this year in tenders and awards.
He also stressed the importance of the collaboration of institutions and civil society in the implementation of the plan, while thanking the users for their patience and recognizing the inconvenience caused, so work is done quickly.
Increased reliability of rail network and fleet
In order to increase the reliability of the network, the following actions are addressed and will soon be presented publicly:
· Renovation of roads and infrastructure, as in the case of the one carried out between Santander and Reinosa (conventional width) and those that will be undertaken soon in metric width: Santander-Cabezón de la Sal and Santander-Orejo;
· Improvement of signage with renovation of interlocks and telecommunications. Currently, new interlocks are installed in conventional width in the Santander-Torrelavega section and, in metric width, a new automatic blockade is executed between Torrelavega/Santander-Nueva Montaña and Maliaño/Astillero, as well as new blockages between Torrelavega and Cabezón de la Sal; and
· Improvement of the catenary with remote control of disconnectors and new substations. Once the catenary has been renovated in the Santander-Liérganes line, new substations are planned in Pesca (conventional width) and, in metric width, in Santander, Requejada (in execution) and Virgen de la Peña.
In the case of the train fleet, it is planned to incorporate 21 new units in metric width into the fleet.
In addition, the availability of redundancy of rolling stock and driving personnel for contingencies will be strengthened and on-board GSM-R equipment will be installed, replacing the radio stations.
Accessibility and urban integration
The work of improving accessibility in the stations and urban integration consists of adapting to regulations the Crossings between platforms with 2-A solutions or Crossings at different levels; the suppression of level crossings and improvement of their protection; and the realization of large actions of urban integration of the stations that have been convenient with municipalities and the Autonomous Community, as is the case of the Santander station and the Torrelavega basement.
To increase the capacity of the network, two lines of action are developed: the track duplication in the sections of greater traffic, which are on the single track, as is the case of Phase 1 of the duplication of the Santander-Torrelavega section, in conventional width; and, in the metric width network, the sections of Puente San Miguel - Torrelavega (Line C2); and Nueva Monta-Maliaño (Line C3). In addition, the freight bypass project in Santander is being drafted to increase the efficiency of mixed traffic.
Proximity Plan in Cantabria
The network of Neighbourhoods of Cantabria has 3 lines and 61 stations and connects 23 municipal terms (8 in the network of Iberian width, 10 in the one of metric width and 5 with connection to both networks).
Through Adif, more than 883 million euros have already been mobilized from the Proximity Plan, out of the 991 million planned. Of these, 364.4 million euros correspond to the network of Iberian width and 626.6 million to that of metric width.
To date, 27 of the main actions have been completed, among them, several road renovations, modernization of the air line of contact (catenary) in several points, optimization of slopes and trenches and improvement of accessibility in stations. And another 17 works are under way, among which several track duplications (Renedo-Guarnizo, Muriedas-Santander) stand out, the improvement of security and telecommunications facilities, the renovation of interlocks and the suppression or improvement of the protection of crossings at the level.
Renfe for its part contemplates actions for a global of 261.7 million euros: in stations more than 29 million euros and, on the other hand, 232.7 million for the improvement of the stations and the updating of the rolling stock, with the incorporation of 21 trains of metric width and the modernization of the current park.