MADRID, 20 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (Mitma) has launched on Monday the local rail services between Málaga-El Chorro/Caminito del Rey, Palma del Río and Villa del Río (Córdoba) and Murcia-Cartagena.
These three services are the first to start within the framework of the Ministry’s strategy to promote “sustainable, safe and connected mobility”, since it is expected that in April the new offer between Medina del Campo, Valladolid and Palencia and between Illescas and Fuenlabrada/Humanes, as the Ministry recalled in a press release.
The Secretary of State for Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, David Lucas, has supervised the start-up of the new services between Málaga and El Chorro/Caminito, making one of the inaugural trips together with the Government sub-delegate in Málaga, Francisco Javier Salas.
For her part, the General Secretary for Transport and Mobility, María José Rallo, has presented the new offer between Palma del Río, Córdoba and Villa del Río at the Palma del Río station together with the Government delegate in Andalusia, Pedro Fernández, and the subdelegate in Córdoba, Rafaela Valenzuela. In this sense, she has used local services to return to Córdoba.
David Lucas has affirmed that this type of service is “a historical claim of the municipalities that it will benefit” and has expressed his desire that the pilot experience “be a reference to be able to establish it in other parts of the country and that other travelers can benefit from this service.
Regarding the future of the service implemented today in Malaga, the data shows that there are 300,000 people who go to the Caminito del Rey every year. In this sense, Lucas has stated that “from now on we will have to see how many travelers use the service, which will give us data to reinforce the line if necessary”.
The new railway relations will be operational, initially, for three years, and will be free for regular travelers during 2023, the conditions of the free conventional Media Distancia season tickets being applicable. In addition, the new Proximity rate represents a discount of up to 30% on single tickets between the different origins and destinations compared to the current one.
Renfe’s new offer aims to respond to the daily mobility needs of the region with intermediate frequencies between Cercanías and Media Distancia, which has resulted in an increase in the number of trains that make the journeys between the indicated municipalities due to the strong to demand.
This is a three-year pilot experience, extendable by agreement of the Council of Ministers if sufficient levels of use are met. In this way, the necessary time of permanence is ensured to analyze if the use of local intermodal services is consolidated among citizens. To do this, a diagnosis will be made on the functionality of the services and adopting the necessary corrections.
