"The new layout will improve the commuter service, reducing the travel time between Murcia and Lorca by 15 minutes"
"The new station will be more functional, improve the safety of users and will be integrated into the High Speed ​​network"
"The current station and the layout by which trains currently circulate can be used for municipal uses if the City Council requests it by creating a new urban space"
Adif has informed the local representatives that it will study in the next days all the proposals received in the framework of the new layout
Adif High Speed ​​has exposed, during a meeting held today with officials of the City of Totana (Murcia) and representatives of citizens, the significant improvements that will represent for the city as a whole the layout project of the Murcia-Almeria line, which is integrated into the Mediterranean Corridor as it passes through the municipality, according to reports from Adif to Murcia.com in a press release.
During the meeting, it was emphasized that all the modifications proposed and worked are motivated by exclusively technical reasons, always in the general interest of the complete project of the line, and that the current layout differs minimally from the project that had been carried out in the year 2011.
The improvements provided by the new layout, which integrates the uses of commuter and goods on the high-speed line, are four: a reduction in the commuter time between Lorca and Murcia, greater safety at all stations on the line in which will suppress the steps between existing platforms, greater reliability and comfort for train users and the integration of the station and the layout currently in service for urban uses.
In addition to being faster, the current layout also fully complies with the base of the Functional Study, now mandatory, which was approved for the optimization of the route between Murcia and Almeria of the Mediterranean Corridor and the Informative Study definitively approved by Resolution of the Secretary of State on January 28, 2004 and that is fully in force.
Likewise, the layout takes advantage of the crossing structure with the A-7 motorway, which is prepared for double track and reduces both possible road traffic conditions and economic investment.
Better commuter service and new station
The new layout will optimize the travel speeds, which will result in improvements for the commuter service, which will run on an electrified double track when the project is completed.
The journey between Murcia and Lorca, currently one hour, will be reduced by 25%, so it will only take 45 minutes between the two cities.
All rolling stock will also be renewed due to the need to adapt it to electrification.
In addition, the new station will be much safer than the current one because the level steps are suppressed and will be integrated into the High Speed ​​network.
With this proposal, the possibility of creating an urban integration band between the current station and the new one that can be used for citizen uses is generated.
Period of public information
Within the framework of its commitment to institutional cooperation, Adif AV has always been transparent in the alternatives for the layout, which it has shared and analyzed not only with this municipality but with all the localities in the area.
This exchange of information with the different municipalities of the route between Murcia and Almería has served to incorporate the suggestions received from the municipalities that have deemed appropriate to make their assessments and points and has adjusted the final draft to the specifications required in terms of safety.
The new layout, which has the provisional technical approval of Adif, was published for the mandatory period of public information on affected goods and rights, the legal deadline for submitting the allegations that were deemed appropriate.
During the meeting held today, Adif has informed the local representatives that it will study the proposals or allegations received in the framework of the new layout.
The procedure of emergency procedure to expropriate, is the usual in new high-speed routes and complies with the Law of the Railway Sector.
Likewise, the expropriation conditions will be dealt with, as always, by virtue of the Legislation of Forced Expropriation.
