The European Commission pushes for a freight railway linking Barcelona’s harbour to France

Brussels (ACN) - This morning, the European Commission (EC) requested a dual rail track, compliant with European standards that will connect the Barcelona harbour to the French border. The EC vice-president and Commissioner for Transport, Siim Kallas, answered a question raised by the Member of the European Parliament, Ramon Tremosa, who belongs to the Liberal group (ALDE) and was a candidate for the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Party (CiU). Kallas said that before the end of 2012 Barcelona should have a European width train connection with France, consisting of two independent tracks. This project is very important, not only for Catalonia’s economy, but also for that of Spain and Europe as a whole.

According to Tremosa, quickly and efficiently distributing freight through Barcelona’s harbour - which is the largest on the Mediterranean sea - to the rest of Europe should be a European priority project. Kallas has agreed on this issue. The railway would be part of the Mediterranean Rail Corridor, which will go along the Mediterranean shore of Spain, linking Southern Spain and Africa with Europe, passing by Spain’s main harbours and industrial centres. The corridor would go from Algeciras to Hungary and Ukraine, passing by Barcelona, Lyon, Turin, Ljubljana and Budapest. Kallas has stated that this corridor will make rail freight transport more competitive.