2023-06-10 13:34:09
THE platforms in defense of public transport and the promotion of the train met this Saturday in Girona in the third day of mobility in the Girona regions, which was held in the Josep Irla Auditorium from nine to two in the morning. Conferences and round tables have revolved around the recovery of lost train lines to the demarcation and the implementation of the train-tram, a hybrid model that allows you to travel at low speed on urban roads and reach 100 kilometers per hour between towns. “We defend a new mobility model for Catalonia that recovers train lines as is being done in Europe, instead of widening roads,” explained Ricard Rios of the Platform for the Promotion of Public Transport (PTP).
In Girona, the platforms have two railway lines projected: a circular one between Les Gavarres and the Costa Brava and another that connects Girona with Olot, passing through Banyoles. The Generalitat is studying the feasibility of both infrastructures. The member of the Platform for the Promotion of Public Transport (PTP), Ricard Rios, explains that they hope that it will be possible to move forward as is already happening in Tarragona, where the first phase of the Tramcamp is about to begin construction, which will unite the city with Cambrils and Salou (Tarragonès).
The first of the lines projected in the Girona counties would have a total route of 95 kilometers (69 of new construction and 26 already existing between Riudellots de la Selva and Flaçà (Gironès)) and would offer a rail connection between fifteen towns. The platform leading the defense of the project, Tren-Tram Costa Brava, calculates that the cost of setting up this infrastructure would be around 700 MEUR, but that it would then “be self-financed with the collection of fees”. The proposal includes frequencies of between 15 and 30 minutes depending on the time slots with a fleet of 18 trains and 55 daily circulations in each direction.
In the case of the second project, driven by the Olot-Banyoles-Girona Train-Tram platform, it would connect eleven towns between Girona and Olot with a double track of 63.2 kilometers. It would include twelve urban stations between Sarrià de Ter (Gironès) and Girona; five stations within Olot; two stations in Banyoles and one for each of the other towns. According to the platform’s calculations, launching it would involve an investment of 500 MEUR.
Train-track
The public transport model that the different platforms are committed to implementing throughout Catalonia is the tram-train. It is a hybrid vehicle between the train and the tram, which is able to adapt to the speed of urban centers to circulate at 20, 30 or 50 kilometers per hour, but it can also reach a speed of 100 kilometers per hour when traveling outside cities.
The member of the Platform for the promotion of Public Transport, Ricard Rios, explains that the implementation of these railway lines in the demarcation would offer “solutions to road congestion so as not to depend on oil” and would democratize access to mobility for everyone who lives in this area.
In addition, details Rios, it would allow “recovering the concept of small lanes (which have been gradually disappearing) that connected these populations in a faster format”. “Girona is the queen of the railway dismantling of the 60s and 70s”, said the member of the PTP, who affirms that with the tram-train “the train would be recovered in the territories furthest from the railway and which have a higher ratio of vehicles to inhabitant and therefore more dependent on the car.”
Combat the climate crisis
The member of the PTP is convinced that this model (which also wants to be implemented in other parts of the territory) “combats the climate and energy crisis”. A statement that is also supported by the researcher of the Superior Council of Scientific Research (CSIC), Antonio Turiel: “A massive implementation of the train-tram would produce a great decarbonization effect that would contribute to curbing climate change with a more electric, more sustainable and more economically profitable”.
Turiel, who took part in one of the round tables of the day, also explained that “the emissions of the private vehicle are between five and ten times higher than those of the tram”. In addition, he emphasized that “the electrified train is the most efficient way to have land transport”. According to the scientist, the energy required by this public mobility system “would be produced with renewable energy”.
The Platform for the Promotion of Public Transport (PTP), Tren-Tram Olot-Banyoles-Girona, Tren-Tram Costa Brava, Tren-Tram de l’Ebre, Tren-Tram Bages-Berguedà, Tren- Tram Blanes-Lloret, Tren del Pirineu, TramCamp de Tarragona, Tram Mataró-Argentona and the Sustainable and Safe Mobility Foundation. In addition to different experts in the sector.
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