Alicante TRAM resumes service between Hospital Vila and Benidorm

On Tuesday, December 16th, the TRAM d’Alacant started running again between the Hospital Vila and Benidorm stations. Track duplication and electrical work on the 6.23-kilometer length improved the service for users.

This project, which cost around 40 million euros, gives this transport system “greater capacity,” “regularity,” and “the infrastructure for future frequency improvements.”

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Juanfran Pérez Llorca, the “president” of the Generalitat, talked about this while on a tour between these stops with Toni Pérez, the president of the Alicante Provincial Council and mayor of Benidorm, Marcos Zaragoza, the mayor of La Vila Joiosa, and Nati Algado, the mayor of Finestrat. They were also with Vicente Martínez Mus, the third vice president and Minister of Environment, Infrastructure, Territory, and Recovery.

The head of the Consell said that this action is in response to “a long-standing demand from all the municipalities in the region, which advocated for improving and adapting public transport to current needs and population growth.” He also said that it represents a “qualitative leap” in connectivity, guaranteeing “a better connection with basic services in the area such as the hospital,” according to a statement from the Generalitat.

These projects have specifically made it possible to fix up the Cala Finestrat and Terra Mítica train stops, “making them easier to get to and better equipped.” They also put in an elevator at the Hospital Vila stop, which “makes it easier to get to the hospital centre.”

At the infrastructure level, the track has been doubled, a new bridge has been erected over the Murtal valley, the track superstructure and electrification have been finished, and additional safety features, railway communications, and power substations have been added.

In this regard, the regional administration has said that “during the 16 months of the construction work,” Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana (FGV) provided an alternative bus service that connected with the TRAM stops in Creueta, La Vila Joiosa, and Benidorm.

“CHANGE”
In this context, Pérez Llorca stressed that “the Marina region has undergone a very important transformation in terms of mobility and transport” and conveyed the Generalitat’s “commitment” to “improving” mobility conditions in the Marina Baixa and Marina Alta regions, “through the expansion and modernisation of the TRAM service to facilitate citizens’ access to sustainable and competitive public transport.”

So, there will be actions like turning the section between Beniardá Avenue in Benidorm and the intermodal stop across from the bus station into a tram line, adding a second track to the Albir-Altea section on line 9, and electrifying the line between Benidorm Intermodal and Garganes (Altea) with a budget of about 30 million euros.

Pérez Llorca also talked about the “imminent” implementation of the enhancement to the public bus passenger transport service to “ensure the continuity of transport between the municipalities of the region.”

Author: Derek Appleton