Businessmen and the governments of Aragon and the Community of Valencia formed an alliance to demand that the Cantabria-Mediterranean Corridor be accelerated as much as possible, considering it a vital rail infrastructure for freight traffic and the advancement of both regions. It was an appointment this Thursday during a forum held in Zaragoza under the organization of CEOE Aragon and the Valencian Community Business Confederation (CEV), in which the presidents of both associations, Miguel Marzo and Salvador Navarro, were present. autonomous presidents Javier Lambán and Ximo Puig.
Both Marzo and Lambán focused their claims on the need to accelerate modernization work on the Zaragoza-Teruel-Sagunto route. It will go to 55 of the 27 weekly freight trains currently in circulation.
The head of the Generalitat stressed that the Cantabria-Mediterranean Corridor “spends a lot of time in a drawer”, but that the “era of oblivion is over” and this is possible “thanks to a century of pressure from businessmen”. “Today, we can say that the Cantabrian-Mediterranean Corridor is finally serious, as is the case with the Mediterranean Corridor.”
Ximo Puig stated that in this sense, the Sagunt-Teruel-Zaragoza line has “a plan, some investments and a schedule”. “We want things to go faster yes but there is no turning back”, noted the Consell president, who demanded an appearance without “central myopia”, without an “outdated radiality” and without “mental zero mileage”.
As he advocates, the central government “successfully and boldly” implements this alternative vision demanded by regions such as the Community of Valencia and Aragon and which is “much more efficient for the economy”. Moreover, this view “inserts Spain into the new Europe of corridors and presupposes that it connects some sea fronts with others”. According to him, “a historic return to the radial pattern that has shaped Spain for three centuries.”
As the Community of Valencia, Aragon, Navarra, La Rioja, the Basque Country and Cantabria concentrate 22% of the Spanish population (10 million people), the president backed the electrification request of this line in “overwhelming statistical reality”. 30% of industrial GDP, 700,000 companies and 22% of Spanish employmentI”.
Therefore, Ximo Puig demanded that an infrastructure that “transcends mental Spain and makes the real Spain visible” and is essential for “profitability, sustainability and the future” be made “without hesitation”. “There is business here; This is proven by the port of Valencia,” he argued, because “with a modest investment, we went from 2 trains to more than 40 trains per week and the better the services, the more traffic there will be”.
Likewise, he pointed out that electrification of the line will prevent emissions and intermodality will facilitate less polluting transportation. “President Lambán and I jointly requested this in Brussels in 2018 so that the Sagunt-Zaragoza line could access the European financing mechanism,” he said.
On the other hand, he said, “We will all win” with this investment. “Aragón is gaining options to diversify the traffic of its massive logistics flow and in Valencia gateway to 1,000 ports worldwideand the “Valencian Community” also wins by completing important connections to position it as an “investment zone”.
As he explains, “the arrival of volkswagen “Sagunt completes a strategic triangle for Volkswagen, connected by the Mediterranean Corridor to Martorell and the Cantabria-Mediterranean Corridor to Landaben” because it is proof that you can only compete internationally with good connections.
The person in charge of Generalitat pointed out that Volkswagen’s decision also reinforces the need to accelerate these two corridors. Therefore, it is not “inertia but a logical “change of hands” that will “intensify a strong economic nerve crossing the peninsula” and “attract new opportunities and investments”.
Regional rebalancing
In this context, he insisted that “alliances are urgently needed between governments, between businesses and between societies”. It’s time to minimize vacuums and multiply ‘centres’ on the peninsula.” “I think this would be the best regional rebalancing to add more poles to European power, the best response to the demographic challenge,” he said.
Puig briefly referred to the importance of moving forward within a “common agenda” in favor of strategic infrastructures and common industrial, logistical and economic interests; it also means tackling depopulation in large areas of both the Valencian Community and the Valencian Community. of Aragon.