Katherine Brook
AFTER 35 years, the Government has finally confirmed it will begin rebuilding the railway connection between Andalucia and Murcia, in the Granada regions of Guadix and Baza.
A budget of €1.6 million has been approved to reinstate the old ‘Almanzora line’, which was closed in 1984. It will also be extended, with an additional stop in the Almeria municipality of Almanzora, and Lorca, where the track will end.
The project is predicted to take up to 10 years, as the current line has completely deteriorated. Experts say that an in-depth study will be required to determine the best way to recover it to its former state.
The Ministry of Transport, through its secretary of State, has already opened the file for this, indicating the tender will go out in the ‘coming weeks’.
A spokesman for the Association of Friends of the Comarca de Baza Railway, Antonio Francisco Martínez, said: “Every time we asked for the train to come back, they told us we were crazy – I do hope they don’t disappoint us.”
Mr Martinez also comments that the commissioning of the line could improve tourism in the area of Granada, referring to it as ‘Empty Granada’, as it’s commonly known. And while the future of the project is ‘ambiguous’, he is ‘happy that the process has finally begun after all these years’.
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