Alex Trelinski
BUSINESS and farming groups have joined forces to criticise the ongoing absence of a rail link with Alicante-Elche airport.
The Alicante Young Farmers Association(Asaja) and the Alicante Business Union(Uepal) say that the ‘non-existence’ of a train connection has turned land around the airport into a 140 hectare parking lot which simply encourages private travel and increases carbon emissions.
They added that the airport is one of the ‘worst connected tourist airports in the world’ branding it alongside Marrakech in Morocco for poor connectivity.
The new airport terminal opened in March 2011 and had space allocated for a railway station along with an Alicante Tram stop.
Nothing happened but In 2019, the Valencian government granted €50,000 towards a feasibility study in connecting Alicante Airport to the rail network.
No progress has been made since then.
A joint Asaja and Uepal statement said; “Spain’s normally fifth-busiest airport is still only accessible by road 11 years after its expansion and 55 years after it opened- a position that none of the country’s main airports are in.”
Asaja’s Jose Vicente Andreu commented: “Tourists do not have a commuter train or a good combination of public transport to reach their destination, which means they have to rent cars.”
“The government wants transport to be sustainable, but here it is promoting the opposite,” he added.
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