FGV will expand the pedestrian tunnel of Calle de Alicante to extend line 10 to the Mercat Central and the Pont de Fusta de Valencia

2023-11-27 08:01:24

The Ministry of Infrastructure, headed by Salomé Pradas, is carrying out construction works for the underground pedestrian connection between Xàtiva and Alicante stations with the aim of connecting tram Line 10 (Alacant-Nazaret) to the rest of the Metrovalencia network, a work carried out through Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana (FGV).

FGV sources have informed elDiario.es that currently, the work that the public company is carrying out on Alacant Street focuses on the construction of the screen walls necessary to continue the underground works. Said works are carried out guaranteeing access to businesses and properties affected by traffic cuts and signposted alternative routes, according to the entity.

The budget for the action is 16.5 million euros, financed with European Funds. The intervention will make possible a quick and fluid connection for users of Metro Lines 3, 5 and 9 to transfer to Tram Line 10, and vice versa.

The pedestrian crossing will have a projected length of more than 250 meters and will link both stations through the underground from the concourses, starting at the concourse level on the Alacant side and reaching approximately three meters below the concourse level of the Xativa station. which requires the provision of a vertical communication core composed of a fixed staircase and an escalator and an elevator accessible to people with reduced mobility.

The works, whose completion was scheduled for next summer, will last a few more months, expectedly until autumn. The reason, as confirmed by FGV, is that a modification of the project has been commissioned with the idea that the same tunnel will serve in the future to extend line 10 through the historic center to connect it with line 6 in the Pont de Fusta, as and as projected in its origins by the PP.

In this way, the tunnel will be widened enough so that this pedestrian connection can be provided between the Alacant and Xàtiva stations and so that in the future trams can pass towards Ciutat Vella, connected to the underground station whose structure is already enabled. in the last basement of the Mercat Central parking lot, and continuing in the direction of the Torres de Serranos to the Pont de Fusta.

Thus, the Maritime Towns would be connected to the center and in turn to the northwest area. At the same time, the extension of the current line 6 is contemplated, which now ends in Torrefiel, near the Ciutat de València stadium, to the Empalme station through the northern ring road, recovering an old project from the previous stage of the PP called tram. orbital, a circular line through the northern and southern rings of the city.

In fact, the executive chaired by Carlos Mazón has included in his first budgets an initial item to carry out the extension of Line 10. This is an allocation of 320,000 euros (of which 70,000 euros are programmed for 2024 and 250,000 for 2025) intended for the informative study of the project in the section between Alacant station and Empalme station.

Regarding the extensions of Line 10 towards the Maritime area and extension to the La Fe hospital, FGV has presented the planning studies to the department, which is pending to release the project to public information.

Splitting between Alameda and Colón

Regarding the Metrovalencia central tunnel, FGV sources explain that the drafting of the informative study for the project to duplicate the central tunnel between the Alameda and Bailén stations is pending award.

This is one of the most important actions proposed by the Valencia Metropolitan Mobility Plan (PMoMe), since it consists of being able to double the tunnel between these two stations to improve and increase the current frequencies of the metro service so that Metrovalencia can continue growing.

The informative study went out to tender in May, with a period of 30 months and a budget of 612,000 euros, and must include various alternatives to eliminate both the braiding points of the current Metrovalencia network and the bottleneck represented by the tunnel between the Alameda and Colón stations and, in this way, be able to correct the current operating limitations.