The Spanish section of the TEN-T Mediterranean Corridor continues to move forward with the gauge migration, with significant benefits for rail freight. The main beneficiaries will be the port of Tarragona and car manufacturer SEAT, which should get a standard gauge connection to the rest of Europe in the near future.
For SEAT, it would concern its facility in Martorell, west of Barcelona. The Spanish infrastructure manager Adif ran the first test trains along a 12-kilometre stretch between the car assembly plant and the Castellbisbal junction. Here, the new mixed-gauge section connects to the standard gauge line leading to Le Perthus, in France.
In other words, once the tests are completed, SEAT will have a direct connection to the rest of Europe without the need to transship goods from Iberian to standard gauge. So far, the tests saw a Class 130, used for high-speed passenger services. For two nights, the train travelled 60 times along the new infrastructure, Adif pointed out.
Port of Tarragona
For the port of Tarragona, located 100 kilometres south of Barcelona, the news is that it might be the first Spanish port fully connected to the TEN-T Mediterranean Corridor. This development, experts say, might give the port a competitive advantage over Barcelona and Valencia, for which a standard gauge connection will require more time.
In Tarragona, the line should become part of the Corridor by 2026, while the other two will have to wait until 2032 and 2027 respectively. This, as Spanish media Diari de Tarragona mentioned, was confirmed by the country’s ministry of transport during a meeting in Valencia. On the other hand, it needs to be mentioned that deadlines often shift, and so could these ones.
