Talgo expects to deliver the first Avrils starting next Monday

Óscar Puente sees it as difficult to reopen the line between Madrid and Aranda de Duero and sees the arrival of the train to Marbella as complicated

MADRID, 1 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has assured that Talgo has informed him that it will deliver the first variable gauge Avril trains starting next Monday, April 8.

In any case, Puente has not committed to having the trains delivered on that date, due to the delays that the company has been accumulating in recent years, as he recalled in an interview on 'Onda Cero'.

"Talgo told us that the trains will be delivered from April 8, but they also told us previously that they would deliver them to us on the 1st and this has not happened, so I cannot commit to a date. But it does seem that we are already very nearby, we are probably talking about days or at most weeks," he explained.

These trains will be used mainly to connect Madrid with Galicia and Asturias, regions in which it is necessary for the trains to change the width of their axis to be able to continue circulating from Ourense and Pola de Lena, thus improving the current times and frequencies.

The minister has also referred to the possibility of reopening the train line between the Spanish capital and Aranda de Duero towards Burgos, ensuring that things "do not look good" for this reopening.

Puente has indicated that a feasibility study is currently being carried out to evaluate the rehabilitation of the Somosierra tunnel, where a tamping machine was trapped 13 years ago and which led to the suspension of that line.

Removing the tamping machine and renewing the tunnel and tracks could cost between 1,300 and 1,400 million euros, a cost that the minister believes offers a "very unbalanced" benefit, especially taking into account that Burgos is already connected to Madrid by the high Valladolid speed.

"I don't want to generate false expectations. It doesn't look good because the cost-benefit ratio of that infrastructure is very unbalanced. It doesn't seem like it's going to be easy to start up that corridor again," he indicated.

Regarding another demand, that of Marbella to have a train, the minister has also ruled out that it is a viable option, understanding that the extension of the suburban train to this city would have many stops and would not make the service attractive compared to the car, and that a high-speed line is complicated.