A proposed new network of long-distance night trains leaves Valencia out of the plan. Largely because Valencia only has international on one track between here and Castellón. Eugene Costello reports…
The International Union of Railways has announced plans to create a long-distance, high-speed rail corridor for night trains between London and Madrid, which would pass through Paris, Zaragoza and Barcelona, missing Valencia out of the project.
The fear is that as younger and more environmentally conscious travellers switch to train travel to reduce the carbon footprint associated with flying, they will be less likely to travel to the Comunidad.
It is a blow for the Comunidad since Alicante also can’t be part of it. Because it does not have the international gauge necessary for travel between different countries. Such as the already existent Eurostar between London and Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and stops between these destinations such as Lille and Calais.
Less likely to visit by train
The fear is that as younger and more environmentally conscious travellers switch to train travel to reduce the carbon footprint associated with flying, they will be less likely to travel to the Comunidad.
The International Union of Railways, the global association that brings together the main players in the railway sector, with Adif and Renfe in Spain, and known by the acronym UIC (Union Internationale des Chemins de fer) created a working group to analyse the feasibility of high-speed night trains in Europe. The first study was came out this week, reported Vía Libre: The Railroad Magazine.
The document UIC-Study Night Trains 2.0 New opportunities for HSR? Full report analyses the potential of the network as substitutes for air travel with a travel time that “must be less than 12 hours ” and for distances of up to 2,200km, as reported in Levante.
The UIC proposes six possible high-speed rail corridors for night trains. Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northern Europe-Russia, Northern Europe, Southern Europe and Western Europe. This is where the bad news for the Mediterranean corridor south of Tarragona arises for the gauge reasons cited above. The western corridor would be the one that would create a high-speed night rail corridor between Madrid, Paris and London. “Three of the largest cities in Western Europe, so it seems reasonable to link them”, says the UIC.
Barcelona and Zaragoza, both relatively large cities, are already departure points for the potential VLDNT (very long-distance night train). They are also part of the high-speed rail network of Spain, the UIC points out.
First stop Paris
“Therefore, the proposed line could also serve them easily,” says the UIC. It adds that the high-speed night corridor should have “boarding areas in Madrid, Zaragoza and Barcelona”. Through France, “the train would travel nonstop overnight” so “Paris would be the first stop in the arrival area.” From the French capital, the VLDNTs “could be divided allowing one part to serve London and the other to connect with Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam,” says the consultancy that has prepared the study for the UIC and published it this same week.
This further blow to the future of rail travel in the Comunidad comes at a time when the only four night trains that remained in circulation in Spain, and on conventional tracks, not high-speed ones, at that, were suspended during the pandemic. The Ministry of Transport is debating whether to revive the service. So it is a gloomy outlook for the future of long-distance rail travel in the community.
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