The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has ratified his commitment to promote sustainable and active mobility, the decarbonization of transport and the development of infrastructures in Cantabria, where today he has met with the president of the autonomous community, María José Sáenz de Buruaga, and with the Mayor of Santander, Gema Igualada, to address issues of common interest in these matters.
During his visit to the City Council, the minister reported on the progress in the project of humanization of the N-611 and N-623 roads, which cross the urban environment of Santander. As announced by Óscar Puente, the route project will be submitted to public information imminently, which will allow it to be approved definitively in the coming months in order to tender it next year and begin the works of conditioning and improvement of accessibility.
As the minister pointed out, this is a project in which the City Council has been listened to and incorporated its initiatives, which has made it possible to improve it and turn it into a project of all the Santanderina citizens.
Within the framework of this project, the Ministry of Transport plans to invest almost 12 million euros in transforming the urban environment of these roads to improve their integration in the city, adapting them to pedestrian and cyclist mobility and strengthening safety, accessibility, sustainability and energy efficiency.
In particular, action will be taken on 6.4 km of both roads (2.7 km in the N-611 and 3.7 km in the N-623), where 5.3 km of bike lanes and nine roundabouts will be built to pacify road traffic, sidewalks will be expanded, lighting will be improved and the semaphorization system will be adapted to new technologies, according to the specifications of the City Council.
The new cycling infrastructure, which will be deployed along both roads (2.6 km on the N-623 and 2.7 km on the N-611), will connect with the network of existing and planned bike lanes within the municipality.
Once the action has been carried out by the Ministry, the sections will be transferred to the City of Santander for its conservation and exploitation.
“I am very pleased to be able to collaborate from the Ministry with a city council that shows such good harmony with our commitment to a healthier and sustainable daily mobility,” said Minister Óscar Puente after the meeting with the mayor of Santander.
Railway impulse
Prior to the visit to the consistory of Santander, the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility held a meeting with the president of Cantabria, during which he addressed the strong commitment of the Ministry and the Government for the improvement of the road and rail infrastructures of the region.
Not in vain, this government has executed 611 million euros of direct investment in Cantabria between June 2018 and February 2024. Of the total, 174 million euros have been allocated to the railway, 44.5% more than in the same period of the previous government. In addition, contracts worth 1.249 billion euros have been litigated, twice as much as during the previous government.
During the meeting, Óscar Puente presented the portfolio of projects with which the Ministry works to respond to the mobility problems of Cantabria, with a view to the transformation of the railway network. Thus, he has placed emphasis on the commitment to the improvement of the Neighbourhoods and to the arrival of high speed in the community.
Thus, last week, the Council of Ministers authorized to tender for 19 million euros (VAT not included) the drafting of the project to build the high-speed stretch between Alar de Rey and Reinosa, of 51.4 km. This new section will give continuity to the 78 kilometers of high-speed track that are already in execution between Palencia and Alar del Rey, allowing to complete the connection with Cantabria.
In parallel to the deployment of the future route in international width to Reinosa, the minister has announced that the possibility of connecting the high-speed line with the conventional network in Alar del Rey is being studied to advance three years the arrival of high-speed trains to Cantabria.
“We want a Cantabria connected to the Spanish and European high-speed rail network as soon as possible. Therefore, we seek to advance the use of the almost 80 km already in execution by three years. Thus, in parallel to the completion of the remaining sections until Reinosa, we are studying its connection with the current line in Alar del Rey”, said Óscar Puente.
The connection will involve an investment of 60 million euros and, once the high-speed line to Reinosa is in service, it will allow the railway operation to expand, so it will not be an ephemeral action.
Within the objective of strengthening the railway connectivity of Cantabria, the Ministry is promoting a new train line with Euskadi to substantially reduce travel times and increase the reliability of the service and, thus, gain competitiveness against the A-8 motorway. Not in vain, with the current line it takes three hours to go by train from Santander to Bilbao.
Thus, as the minister pointed out, action is “a priority for the Government” because the current line is not competitive compared to its alternative by road and because we are betting on increasing the share of the railway in Spain, both for passengers and goods.
In 2022, the results of the first phase of the informative study, the feasibility study and more suitable alternatives to respond to the territorial, functional and environmental criteria for its development were presented. Currently, the Ministry is working on the second phase of the informative study, defining the selected alternatives and analyzing their impact, which is very relevant when it affects Red Natura 2000, so as to serve as a basis for the process of public information and environmental assessment.
Meet the Closeness Plan
Regarding the Proximity Plan, the head of the Department stressed that the agreements reached are being complied with since 1,341 million euros are going to be allocated to modernize the infrastructure, the stations and the rolling stock. Of the total, 933 million euros have already been mobilized, 70%.
In addition, the commitment to maintain the free proximity service until the arrival of the new trains of metric width, which began to be manufactured at the end of February, the tariff integration has been successfully implemented, a commissioner has been created and the result of the audit of the contract for the supply of rolling stock has been published, as announced by the minister.
Within the framework of the actions of the Proximity Plan of Cantabria, Óscar Puente has announced that in April the Nueva Montaña roadhouse will be operational and in June its elevator and that next year the duplication of track between Muriedas and Santander will be completed.
In metric width, in 2025 the provisional diversion of Torrelavega and the improvement of the signage between Torrelavega and Nueva Montaña and Maliaño Astillero will end. It has also announced that next year, works such as the office building of the Santander station and its baipás for goods or the renovation of the road between Santander and Cabezón de la Sal will be tendered.
Road network
In terms of roads, after putting into service the direct access to the port from the A-67, work continues on increasing the capacity of this motorway in its itinerary of approach to Santander.
In this regard, the minister has announced that after Easter, work will begin on the third lane between Polanco and Santa Cruz de Bezana to increase road safety and traffic fluidity, whose contract has just been formalized for almost 173 million euros. “A milestone to satisfy this historic demand of Cantabria”, said Óscar Puente
In addition, the project for the third lane to the airport is scheduled for public information in April, which will continue the section of the A-67 motorway that is about to begin.
These actions will allow us to strengthen the Torrelavega knot, already in execution. “The work of greater entity that we are executing in Cantabria. The fact that its 2.5 km contains an investment of almost 124 million gives an idea of its enormous complexity,” said the minister.