2023-07-20 00:00:00
The mayoress of Zaragoza, Natalia Chueca, has visited the progress of the first phase of the expansion works of the Zaragoza Maritime Terminal, which are in their final stretch. Once the work is finished, the TMZ will be able to operate twice as many trains. During this event it was announced that the project has received 1.8 million euros of European funding.
(19/07/2023)
The expansion works, which began in March, aim to double the capacity of the facilities. Once completed, this terminal will operate twice as many trains as currently and the storage capacity will increase by 50 percent. The chosen location is the land developed by Mercazaragoza where an area of more than 30,000 square meters will be set up. The investment in the works is 10.5 million euros and they have received aid of 1.8 million from Europe. This amount will be allocated to the railway infrastructure of the different phases. Specifically, the adaptation of the tracks for the 750-meter trains to operate. In this way, efficiency will be gained by having longer trains and a through terminal.
The extension project of this terminal has been divided into two stages that will be carried out between 2023 and 2024. Work is currently underway on the first one, which has an investment of 5.5 million The works are in the last part of the execution To date, the earthworks, the adaptation of the land and the execution of the services and facilities have been carried out, and the execution of the paving is still pending. This last part will take place during this month and the beginning of next August; and finally, the railway infrastructure will be installed during August.
According to the plans, in September the terminal part of the expansion that corresponds to the first phase will come into operation. From those dates, the trains will operate on the tracks and the container storage area will also have been completed.
Key project for Europe
The expansion of the Zaragoza Maritime Terminal (tmZ) is listed as one of the national strategic projects included in the Connecting Europe Facilities 2022 programme.
With these works, the railway capacity will be doubled, which will allow it to adapt to the growing demand of the merchandise traffic that arrives by this means and to auxiliary logistics projects for the container in Mercazaragoza, such as those that the Maersk shipping company is running.
tmZ
Founded 21 years ago with the aim of developing Aragon’s international maritime trade through intermodality, it registers 50 percent of Aragon’s containerized maritime operations. The growing demand for services has been the main reason for carrying out this project, as it currently accommodates up to 70 trains per week and almost 3,500 per year. In addition, in 2022 it managed 106,650 containers. This terminal has regular connections with the Port of Barcelona, Bilbao and Algeciras and is the only one in the region from which regular compositions leave for the latter destination.
Since it was launched, it has been extended up to three times. It is the second freight rail terminal on the European Mediterranean Corridor in terms of activity and capacity. These logistics facilities are an operational and administrative extension of the inland ports that promote the creation of corridors with other inland rail enclaves and promote the development of international connections.
In addition, it occupies the first position in Rail Freight Corridor 6, Mediterranean Rail Corridor, in terms of activity. This network runs from southern Spain to the Hungarian border with Ukraine and passes through the French Mediterranean arc and northern Italy.
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