High speed or local? Experts debate the rail needs of Marbella

During his recent visit to Marbella the Public Works Minister, Íñigo de la Serna, admitted that the existing line was already overcrowded

Ignacio LILLO

Friday, 9 February 2018, 14:56

The recent announcements from regional and central governments regarding rail infrastructure have sparked debate in numerous circles about what type of rail service the western Costa del Sol needs: a high speed connection with Malaga and the airport, or an extension of the local Cercanías train.

The proposal announced by the central government in Marbella recently involved extending the existing local line from Malaga, which currently stops in Fuengirola, to Marbella and on to Estepona.

This option will always have the problem of the bottleneck situation the existing line suffers and which is not easy to solve. Along the stretch of the line between Malaga airport and Fuengirola, only 53 per cent of the route has two sets of tracks. In other words, for half of the route only one train can travel between two stations in either direction at any one time and the proximity to building means that there is little space for the extra line that would improve the service.

During his recent visit to Marbella the Public Works Minister, Íñigo de la Serna, admitted that the existing line was already overcrowded. He said that the improvements to allow the line to take a greater volume of traffic could take the form of building partial duplications, or in other words passing points where space permitted.

The minister said that the future line between Fuengirola and Marbella would include stretches underground which would allow for trains to travel at higher speeds. The results of a more detailed study will be announced this summer.

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