Business leaders and logistics experts in Barcelona have criticised the pace of work on the Mediterranean Corridor railway project, warning that weak planning could leave the route unable to cope with future demand. The debate was organised by Ferrmed at the Saló de la Innovació Logística (SIL) in Barcelona.
Joan Amorós, Ferrmed's leader, said the corridor is not being built as its original double high-speed platform design intended. He said the current approach amounts to a series of patches that will not meet future needs, especially around Barcelona and Valencia.
Mr Amorós said there are already 170 passenger trains between Barcelona and Martorell, plus more than 30 freight trains, while only 3% of freight currently moves by rail. He warned that if rail freight rises to 10%, the line will be saturated. He also said the first step should be to double the line between west of Martorell and north of Sant Celoni.
He pointed to wider bottlenecks too, including the need to plan for the Central Park passing tunnel in Valencia and to separate Ebro traffic from Mediterranean traffic on the Cervera-Igualada section. He also said that if all trains have to pass through Tarragona to reach Barcelona, the system will fail, and noted that 28,000 lorries travel daily on the motorway.
Alícia Casart from the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce backed the criticism, saying the problem is not only the amount of investment, but whether administrations understand how serious the short-term capacity issue is. She also questioned the effectiveness of the third rail solution for international gauge, and argued for a full international gauge on the Portbou line instead.
In contrast, Joan Calabuig, the Mediterranean Corridor Commissioner, said he was satisfied with the more than 800 kilometres of works under way. He said the project is the greatest railway transformation ever undertaken, and pointed to work on La Sagrera station, direct connections for SEAT, improvements at Sants station, and links to the Port of Tarragona.
Pere Macias, speaking on behalf of Manel Nadal and the Generalitat, said Catalonia has launched unprecedented global planning for its rail network. He said the network grew by 32% between 2001 and 2025, from 1,050 km to 2,047 km, including 300 km of high-speed line that also serves freight. He added that Catalonia still ranks 27th out of 30 European nations for railway kilometres per inhabitant.
Tatxo Benet, president of FemCat, summed up the debate by saying there is a clear gap between the government view and that of civil society. He said the corridor has been treated like the Loch Ness Monster, something that never fully appears, and criticised governments for offering many excuses without changing strategy.
