MÉRIDA, Feb. 5 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has trusted that an “agreement” can be reached “very soon” to “unblock” the high-speed situation in Castilla-La Mancha, and has added that if this is not achieves, then your department will make “decisions.”
After indicating that the Ministry “already has the solution” and that it is working jointly with the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha and the municipalities of Toledo and Talavera la Real for the development of “the best railway integration solution” at its passing through these localities, has acknowledged that he hopes to “unblock” the situation “very soon”, although he has stressed that if an “agreement” is not reached, the Ministry will resolve the issue “in another way.”
“We have to resolve it (the high-speed situation in Castilla-La Mancha) and we are going to try to do it through the agreement, but if not, then we will resolve it in another way,” he indicated to questions from the media at a press conference. Monday in Mérida after meeting with the president of the Extremadura Regional Government, María Guardiola.
Thus, asked if a meeting could take place between the Ministry and the governments of Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha to address the situation of the high-speed section in the latter community, Puente stated that he hopes that “a meeting will not be necessary.” three-way meeting”, since “this issue has been going on for too long” and “it is time to make decisions”.
“We have already maintained, and even I have gone on the ground, I have been on a visit that I made to Castilla-La Mancha for an official matter and then I took myself and went to see it in situ… We believe that we already have the solution. We are currently in talks with the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and with the administrations involved and I believe that we are going to have a solution in the immediate term. I hope that a three-way meeting is not necessary because I believe that in “This issue has been bothering us for too long, and I think it is time to make decisions,” he stated.
“I think we are going to reach an agreement, but I also tell you, I said it in Castilla-La Mancha and I say it here… if in the end there is no agreement, we are going to make decisions, because what we cannot do is continue waiting and that the infrastructures that are currently waiting in Extremadura are paralyzed by a question of conflict of routes in other territories. We have to resolve it and we are going to try to do it through the agreement, but if not then we will resolve it in another way”, he stated. .
At this point, the minister has pointed out that in terms of high-speed rail in Castilla-La Mancha “progress” will “soon” be made, after the EIA of the previous informative study “expired” and is underway — he remembered– a new one in the Ministry of Ecological Transition for its environmental processing.
Regarding the “solutions” for the passage through Toledo and Talavera de la Reina, Puente has indicated that his department is working “together” with both city councils and with the Government of Castilla-La Mancha for the development of “the best integration solution of the railway as it passes through both towns”, and added that he hopes to “unblock” the situation of the passage through Toledo “very soon”.
On the other hand, regarding the request to bury the train tracks as they pass through Navalmoral de la Mata (Cáceres), the minister has indicated that at this moment the execution of the road section that crosses said town is at a stage of execution ” greater than 50 percent”, so “at this time reconsidering the operation and betting directly on burial would mean a stoppage” and “a delay” estimated at “no less than five years.”
He added, in any case, that the Ministry is going to “try to study” the existing integration project to “see to what extent” it can be improved, being aware – he adds – that “the reconsideration that is taken regarding the project if it has any regulatory obstacles” could “delay” it “enormously”.
“So, taking the regulations into account with the existing project, we are going to see how we can improve it,” he added.
