Gandia-Dénia train talks derailed by government impasse

Mayors in North Alicante province frustrated at Madrid stalement that blocks the project

A 'TRAIN committee' made up of mayors from the Marina Alta and La Safor has started meeting again after months of inactivity, but its members are frustrated by a government stalemate which means no progress can be made.

The long-awaited GandiaOliva-Dénia rail link, which was disbanded in 1974 amid false promises of major renovation works, has been among the top priorities of the districts' total of 64 local councils for decades, but investment has barely reached a total of €1 million in 15 years and each central government puts back the start date even further.

In a massive protest in Dénia in early 2010, residents and local authorities expressed their outrage at the news the train line would not be in place until the year 2022.

But with only just over two years to go before then, even the paperwork is not complete and the socialist government has warned it will be unable to start building until 2025 at the earliest.

The line would provide an unbroken link between the cities and airports of Valencia and Alicante and, effectively, from the French border to Murcia, in what has long been one of the only holiday hotspots in Spain with no train and practically no public transport.

“Right now, the case is in the hands of the central government's energy and environment ministry,” says Ondara's mayor José Ramiro Pastor.

“It's still waiting for a report from them and, in the meantime, there's little we can do.

“If the ministry gives a favourable report, we're not going to argue about the track route they stipulate.”

José, 39, was not even born when the rail connection was scrapped, and suspects his two young children will be out to work long before it reappears.

The high school teacher, who is on a career break for his local council role, admits his counterparts across the two districts are feeling frustrated that their hands are tied.

“It would be nice to know which political speaker we need to deal with,” he sighs.

“Until Spain has a fixed and stable government, we don't even know whom we're supposed to be talking to about the train.”

Acting president Pedro Sánchez, of the socialists, gained power in June 2018 through a no-confidence vote against the right-wing PP, then announced eight months later he would be calling a general election after his cabinet, which held fewer than a quarter of the seats in Parliament, was unable to drum up support for its 2019 budget.

The April election led to a hung Parliament, but Sánchez was not willing to enter into coalition and did not gain sufficient votes from the opposition to be invested as president.

He has now called another general election – the fourth in Spain in as many years – due to take place on November 10.

And everything points to its producing another inconclusive result.