Aragon asks to recover the Pyrenean Central Traverse to redirect goods from the south

2023-10-03 00:00:00

Aragon asks to recover the Pyrenean Central Traverse to redirect goods from the south

The general director of Transport of the Government of Aragón, Miguel ngel Ana, recalled the importance of the Central Travesia during his participation in the conference ‘The trans-European transport network in Andaluca: the development of Europe from the south’. In this event, which took place in Granada, the drive for intermodality in this region was also explained.

(02/10/2023)

At the conference ‘the trans-European transport network in Andaluca: the development of Europe from the south’, the Aragón Transport Area has highlighted the importance of modernizing infrastructure to promote connections from abroad. An example that has stood out is the Valencia-Teruel-Zaragoza line. At this point they have pointed out that “with the latest improvements introduced by the ministry, in one year merchandise traffic has multiplied by ten and when all the works are completed, it is estimated that it will multiply by a hundred.”

For this reason, it has been stressed that a key project is the recovery of the Pyrenean Central Traverse, interrupted since the 1970s and which the French region of New Aquitaine now wants to recover. In this regard, it is considered necessary “to open a high-capacity tunnel linking Zaragoza with Toulouse with a low-level railway tunnel. In addition, it has been recalled that “if the two border crossings at both ends of the Pyrenees are saturated and if it is necessary to achieve that in the year 2050 50 percent of goods are transported by train, the central infrastructure is necessary.”

On the other hand, to address the challenge of distributing goods in an effective and competitive manner, “the need to provide more infrastructure and logistical assets” has been highlighted. An example that has been presented at these conferences is the Zaragoza Logistics Platform, Plaza. Another aspect that is considered necessary is the development of the first Algeciras-Zaragoza railway highway, “an intermodal infrastructure that will allow progress in the decarbonization process imposed by Europe, by allowing the transport of long-distance goods by train.”