Ron Howells
PORTUGUESE Prime Minister Antonio Costa has said that it is “a dream” of his to be able to unite the regions of the Algarve, in Portugal, and Andalucia, in Spain, through a new railway connection.
An Andalucia-Algarve rail connection has been a dream of the Portuguese PM for some time and “one day” he hopes to get there. “We hope that one day we will have a [railway] connection that will allow us to unite the Atlantic and Mediterranean corridors, linking the Algarve to Andalucia. It would be a dream for all of us and one day we will get there”, he said.
“The project is strategic for Andalucia and the Algarve,” said Marifran Carazo, the Andalucian regional minister for Development, Infrastructure and Spatial Planning.
According to Carazo, both the Andalucian Government and the Portuguese government “have already shown interest” in the continuation of the high-speed railway between Madrid-Seville to Faro, passing through Huelva, “but so far the Spanish Government has not commented”. The regional minister stated that it is first necessary to carry out an economic feasibility study of the investment and then “work quickly to convince Europe of its importance”.
The Portuguese PM said that Portugal is “developing the connection between Lisbon and the border” with Spain, either “for passengers” or “for goods”.
“This will be a very important link between the Port of Sines and the border” of Caia, Elvas, which puts Extremadura in the middle of a strategic position, with access to the Mediterranean ports of Spain, but also to the Atlantic ports of Portugal and, in particular, to the Port of Sines”, he said.
The nearest airport to Huelva in Spain is Sevilla Airport, which is 93.6 km away. Other nearby airports include Faro (95.2 km) and Tangier (194.2 km). It takes 5h 45m to get from Huelva to Lisbon Airport by car, a rail journey would drastically reduce that time.
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