Well there are now 9 MILLION passengers who have used the Malaga high speed line. And millions who have used the Barcelona or Valencia links to Madrid. Seems perfectly reasonable to invest in lines that will carry millions, instead of local stations with only 5 or 10 per day... Just my tuppenorth' worth

So the nimbies are holding things up again? And meanwhile all that freight continues to pound along the motorways on lorries! This is a really important project, with the growing trade between Europe and North Africa.

Mediterranean Corridor enhancement programme

Yeah, good point a lot of fruit and veg in the UK shops is now from North Africa and it's much cheaper.

Apples and Pears.

Too much Christmas spirit Stevie lad ?

How on earth can you compare numbers using small individual stations with numbers using a complete line or system ?

I know of stations or stops in my own area which are used by only a handful of people.
Virtually no extra costs are involved because they are simply the equivalent of bus stops and the trains only need stop by request or otherwise continue straight on.
The very same trains are fairly well used and carry a lot of other passengers between much busier stations on the same line.

Likewise you are extremely selective with your facts and fail to mention the vast amounts of money wasted on white elephant AVE lines, much of it originally our own money, UK taxpayers, as well as other contributors to the EU gravy train.

The sooner that one hits the buffers the better to my way of thinking.

Next time maybe you can give us a full quidsworth, as that twopennorth of yours obviously only includes a few convenient facts rather than the complete broader picture.

Merry Christmas anyway and I hope Santa brought you that brand new Hornby you had your eye on.

It's always an easy thing to say of course if you're not directly threatened with 700m-long freight trains screaming within metres of your front door and find your livelihood in peril. We stayed in an hotel in the campo outside of Ronda once, never again, the noise from the goods trains through the night drove us mad. The only hotel I've ever been in where there were ear plugs on the bedside cabinet! I remember someone doing B&B near Vejer de la Frontera, and she had built up a great little business, until they plonked a wind turbine right outside her property, that was it, business finished.

have to agree with you

what they don't understand is that the line will also bring passengers who may find it would be ever so convenient to use their bars and hotels etc

those living down on the coast were livid when they realised they wouldnt be getting the line as they could see the benefits.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...hes-China.html

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Sorry, but they don't put wind turbines within 500m of residential property. And if you don't want to be kept awake by trains, don't book a hotel next to a railway line!

Far more people are affected by road traffic, including all of us who breathe the air polluted by carbon monoxide fumes.

I equate building a freight line close to idyllic villages and countryside, hotels and other amenities as being very similar to shutting down an uneconomic coal mine.

It needs to be done and sod the consequences for the incumbents.

Good thinking. They might just as well, they've pretty much ruined all the coastline, why not the interior too? I see this week in the paper the government have stepped in to stop plans to build the biggest tourist complex in Europe in sensitive areas of Murcia. But for how long, the local council is all for it. It included homes for 66,000 people, loads of hotels, five golf courses etc. Spain needs more homes and golf courses?

Another 30 lines to go according to today's paper, but thank goodness the AVE is untouched.
http://www.abc.es/economia/20121228/...212280056.html

Does Aggy really propose keeping lines open that only get 0.2 passenger per kilometre, and closing the AVE lines that get millions? Never mind result in big orders like the 8 billion Saudi contract. Would only make sense if a new connection brought an increase in passengers..

Nah, I suspect Agyy's just annoyed that Spain, like France, Italy and Germany, are way ahead in their transport plans. When will the London Birmingham fast link (still less to Manchester) be built? 2030?

Way Ahead? The largest current engineering project in Europe is Crossrail.

What I don't understand about Spanish rail is why they do not extend the regional routes where passenger numbers warrant it but continue to pump money into the AVE.

Crossrail may be large but it's only providing an underground rail line through the city, similar to those already in other European cities (including Madrid). I'm looking forward to using it when it eventually goes into operation. Maybe a better example would be the Channel Tunnel link, a great piece of engineering.

Incidentally did you know Ferrovial (a Spanish company) are doing a lot of the work?
http://www.ferrovial.com/en/Press-Ro...%3Dfv3vtiduo_4

It's a bit more than an underground rail line as I suspect you are fully aware. If this project was being undertaken in Spain you would be praising it to the hilt.
Why can't you just be even-handed in your posts?

http://www.crossrail.co.uk/