Atlantic and Mediterranean corridors provide a backbone to Spain and connect Europe, according to Government Commissioners

The Atlantic and Mediterranean rail corridors continue to make progress by combining planning and financing in an ambitious bet to definitively structure the Iberian Peninsula and complete the connection with Europe, highlighted José Antonio Sebastián, Government Commissioner for the development of the Atlantic Corridor, and his counterpart for the Mediterranean, Josep Vicent Boira, at Global Mobility Call, an event organised by IFEMA MADRID and Smobhub.

Sebastián explained that a total of 6.607 billion Euro has been tendered for railway works in his corridor, of which 1.2 billion Euro correspond to this year and twice as much for 2025: ‘The aim is to sew the west and northwest of the Iberian Peninsula’.

Moreover, the expert pointed out that between 2027 and 2032, the forecast is to complete the routes Toledo-Talayuela, Mérida-Puertollano, the Basque Y, Burgos-Vitoria, Zaragoza-Pamplona and the access to important ports such as Algeciras, Seville and Bilbao, at the same time that he welcomed the implementation with France for the cross-border crossing.

‘To illustrate the advantages of the Atlantic Corridor, it is like linking the Camino de Santiago, the Ruta de la Plata and Algeciras and Irún’, and he stressed that it would provide the backbone of the north and south of the other “less developed” Spain, but which encompasses 13 autonomous communities and 40 provinces, accumulating 65% of the GDP and 66% of the population.

For his part, Boira stressed that Spain is at the forefront in the implementation of corridors and ‘one of the DNA is to complete the international rail gauge as if the map of Europe were the Metro network, fully interconnected’.

‘Our main objectives are the connection of the ports of Tarragona, Sagunto and Valencia and that it reaches Algeciras, connected to intermodal stations, La Llagosta-La Boella and connection to the Seat, Ford and Powerco battery factories,’ said Boira, who also mentioned others such as Algeciras-Madrid-Zaragoza and this one with Sagunto. He also stressed that the damage caused by the floodings (DANA) is not going to affect the future of the Mediterranean corridor.

Both agreed that the decarbonisation of freight transport ‘has no way back’ and in this environmental sense, they highlighted the usefulness of rail motorways to avoid lorries except for the ‘first and last mile’ of loading and unloading, as well as the mixed use of rail for materials and passengers and for the military.

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