steviedeluxe

New trams for Nottingham to be built at Alstom's plant in Barcelona (they have already built coaches for the London and Washington metros there).

http://www.spanishrailwaysnews.com/n...ot=220&cs=spai

I imagine it can be justified in economic terms, and at least the French conglomerate Alstom is providing much needed work in Spain, but why can't these type of things be built in the UK?

Fredbargate

UK companies do not offer such attractive backhanders

steviedeluxe

Are you suggesting the good leaders of Nottingham were prepared to take backhanders when deciding their choice of tram-maker? Surely not..

Domino

is it just Alsthom and Bombardier in the UK ?

can Alsthom UK compete with Alsthom Spain ??

and surely in the UK there isnt the backhanders available in Spain ?

jackytoo

Meanwhile back on the CDS the cercanias train, which only runs to Fuengirola couldn't cope. passengers complaining of waiting over an hour as trains filling up quickly. only manages to do a train every 20 mins!

steviedeluxe

There are plenty of cities in both the UK and Spain who would love better services - try travelling from Nottingham to Coventry for example, you'd be lucky to get a service every 90 minutes. I'm not sure how this is development news though. I suppose you could make the argument that the new high speed links to Alicante or to Granada, should have been stopped and the CDS made a priority.

jackytoo

They could have done both all the billions of euro that has been thrown at them.

http://www.diariosur.es/v/20120406/m...-20120406.html

steviedeluxe

Nice video on developments in Zaragoza, including the new cercanias station

jackytoo

That'll help the tourist trade

The spanish blame the junta de andalucia for the lack of spending in infrastructure in Málaga province. as one spaniard said a long tunnel under sevilla which takes the AVE into sevilla airport yet it doesn't have nowhere close to the volume of flights of málaga airport which is an international hub.

steviedeluxe

Well actually there are business conventions that meet in Zaragoza. It's a communications hub and has various industries located in and around the city ( Opel, Balay, CAF, Pikolin, LaCasa etc). It happens to be the 5th biggest city in Spain, so the transport investment is justified if we are talking population numbers. Believe it or not making sure a few tourists can catch the train at Easter or in August, isn't always at the top of the list for choosing where a new line will be built. Cornwall in the UK has had a lot of rail lines closed; unfortunately because of the seasonal nature of tourism you can understand why.
Edit: not sure why you are whingeing about Malaga investment - hasn't there been a AVE connection to Malaga for some time now? Time for other cities - Alicante. Granada, Leon and even Zamora to get their turn?

Domino

Lack of spending in Malaga Province ??

Obviously not seen the state of the roads, road markings, pavements etc etc in Granada Province.

Mind you the AVE is bringing in a nice collection of high cost bridges to keep the cart track to hamlets of 10 rundown shacks

Zaragozaram

Well said Stevie, but keep it under your hat. We don´t want the world and his wife pitching up, stealing the best tapas etc.

jackytoo

They would have to pave the streets in gold to get me in zaragoza...once was enough

Zaragozaram

ample time to get under the skin of a place then?

angiescarr

A little off the track (Pun intended).
I was there a few months ago just as a lovely stop on the way to Barcelona. History beauty and great shopping. Art architecture and good food. Oh and culture. Thankfully for you the world and his wife don't recognise any of that and prefer the costas, so I think you're OK for now Zaragozaram ;-)
Went to Medinaceli too. Beautiful. But it was tuesday so it was closed!