All these actions will involve an investment by the PAV of 33.6 million euros. The agreements have been signed by the President of Puertos del Estado, José Llorca, the president of ADIF, Juan Bravo; and the president of the PAV, Aurelio Martínez.
During the meeting, which was held this morning in the Estación del Norte de Valencia, the Minister of Development has highlighted that with the signing of these agreements “the Ministry complies with a commitment acquired last February at the AVE assembly, in which it was announced the signing of two very important agreements for the connectivity of the valencian ports “. In this sense, he stressed that “these agreements respond to the will of the Ministry of Development to improve the connectivity of Spanish ports and the improvement of rail infrastructure.” De la Serna also stressed “the importance of the Cantabrian-Mediterranean corridor for the government of Spain” and has put in value the effort of the PAV and the entire port community to improve the “much needed accessibility of the port of Sagunto with railway infrastructures “.
Rail Access to Sagunto
The agreement signed today includes the creation of a direct rail access to the port of Sagunto – not including the beach of tracks – that meets a series of technical functional requirements such as access of trains of goods up to 750 linear meters, or compatibility with the technical requirements established by the Trans-European Network for the Mediterranean Corridor. The works are expected to be tendered at the beginning of 2018 and have duration of 24 months, and the action will be completed in 2020. Once the works are completed, ADIF will transfer to the PAV the ownership of the infrastructure that will become part of the service area of the port of Sagunto.
Specifically, an investment of € 31.5 million is planned, of which 20 million euros will be provided by the Port Authority of Valencia and the remaining € 11.5 million will come from the Sustainable Growth Operational Program of the FEDER funds.
The financing corresponding to the PAV will cover the costs of drafting of the construction project and the execution of the works corresponding to the performance. Among these costs are those associated with possible expropriations, safety pilots, materials and other costs associated with the investment. For its part, Adif will tender and execute the corresponding works.
Improvement of the Sagunto-Teruel-Zaragoza line
Regarding the Sagunto-Teruel-Zaragoza railway line, the agreement signed today will allow the improvement of seven sidings that allow the efficient operation of trains up to 750 meters in length. The works will also facilitate the increase of the average speed of travel of the trains of goods that circulate along the line as well as the increase of the capacity available for trains of goods. This action will allow an improvement of at least 15% in the operating conditions of the line.
The bidding of these works – which can be carried out joint and unitary – is planned to take place during 2018, so that works are completed by the end of 2018 or early 2019.
The signing of this agreement will involve an investment by the PAV of 13.6 million euros from the Financial Fund for Land Accessibility. The PAV also plans to allocate another 40 million euros for actions to improve this railway line, which are still pending.