¿Could it be cognitive dissonance that the Government returns to Alicante to see the trains?

According to various sources, members of the Conselleria de Mobilitat and SFM have again been to see the train / tram in Alicante (Mercado - Benidorm) on the 18 August 2009, say the Europa Press and Mallorca Confidencial.

On the 29 March 2009 the Diario de Mallorca informed us that the mayorsof the Llevant region along with members of the Conselleria de Mobilitat had already been to visit Alicante to see the benefits of this train / tram.

If the government has already announced that it has bought the units needed for the railway, 6 units for 26 million, why are they returning to Alicante? ¿Could this be cognitive dissonance ? (there is a tendency in people to unconsciously react to reduce dissonance, to keep a balance. Recent investigations demonstrate that dissonance can be a serious obstacle in decision making, which produces a strange scenario: that one clings or stands by his first decision even though one has doubts and possibly internal conflicts on the decision. ¿Could it be that they have bought 6 trains without being sure of the result or without proper planning?

SFM have visited railway 1, Mercado – Benidorn of Alicante. This line is 44 km long and has 14 stops. One Aeropuerto-Alicante-Benidorm-Altea.

The sheds are neaxt to the motorway AP-7, a route that connects the whole mediterranean coast from the French border to Algeciras.

Remember that the train in the Llevant region will be 33 km long with only 5 stops and they want to build the sheds in Son Carrió, a rural town that doesn’t even have a main road, and where, to get to the said sheds, one will have to go through the only road in the town which goes straight past the school.

The other possible explanation to this pharaonic project is that they want to turn Artà and Cala Rajada into an uncontrolled and exuberant concrete monstrosity like Benidorm and it’s surrounding areas.

The decision to construct the Manacor – Artà railway is based on a study made only on the Palma – Inca route.

The study cost 60 million pesetas and was based on only 290 questionnaires that were correctly answered.

In 2001 the company INECO presented to the Gobierno de las Islas Baleares the “Study of transport for the island of Mallorca and of alternative means of transport to link Palma with the UIB”. This study fue offered in 2000 (BOIB núm 56 4-5-2000) at 60 million of the old currency, pesetas. The Plan de Transporte Ferroviario de Baleares was based on the results of this study as described in page 71 in section III previous studies, to plan the new railway lines that are now being realised.

To undertake the Estudio de Movilidad de la Isla de Mallorca (INECO 2001) the investigation was only centralised on the residents of the Palma – Inca route, regardless of whether they were users of the railways or not. 567 questionnaires were returned, of which only 452 were correctly filled out. Although, once sorted, the sample study was based on 290 provident questionnaires on the Palma – Inca route to analyse the transport for the whole island of Mallorca (page 63-64).

In this study it was asked if one would prefer a train for public transport or investment in roads. Nevertheless the question was aimed at extending the railway to Inca and to Manacor; there was no mention or reference to any extensions to Artà or to Alcúdia. The answers were 62,7% in favour of extending the railway to Inca and to Manacor, 10,9% to invest in roads, 19,4% in favour of both options and 7,4% unsure (page 71).

Regarding the favourable option to extend the existing railway (62,7%), to Manacor, the highest percentage was from the Palma – Sierra Norte (north mountains) (71,2%) (page 71). Even though the question was centred on the route from Palma – Inca.

According to the Estudio de Movilidad de la Isla de Mallorca (INECO 2001) the highest transport needs per resident (over the age of 12) is on the Palma – Santanyí route, 14% higher than the highest average in the study area (page 44).

With the exception of Sóller (29.980) and the Sierra Norte (17.402), Palma – Periferia Levante hasthe lowest percentage of transport needs (82.695), which represents 5,9% of the total. Most of the trips are made on the Palma Interior Vía Cintura (Palma inner ring road) (430.277, 30,9%), Palma Exterior Vía Cintura (outer ring road) (241.469, 17,3%) and Palma – Inca – Alcúdia (203.818, 14,6%). Palma – Andratx produces 107.402 trips, 7,7% of the total, and Palma – Santanyí produces 96.141 trips, 6,9% of the total.

The Palma – Inca – Alcúdia route, where the most public transport is in operation, is where the people use it least. Only 22,9% use it frequently, 24% sometimes and 53,1% hardly ever use it (page 69).

The “hardly ever use” public transport represents a much higher percentage (62,3%) in relation to frequent users (17,7%) and “sometimes use it” (18,1%) on most of the island. The number of minor usage, being higher than average, is found in the Palma – Sierra Norte, Palma – Andratx, Palma interior Vía Cintura, Palma – Manacor y Palma – Periféricos de Levante routes.

The principal reasons for the low usage is that the private vehicle is more comfortable (44,3%), that there are few bus routes and that they are infrequent (page 69).

75,8% of the questioned responded that they would prefer improvements to the roads and 24,2% would prefer the construction of motorways. To the question of whether they would prefer better roads or better public transport, 25,1% said they would prefer better roads, 30,7% better public transport and 40,2% both (page 70).

The Anti Train Association believes that the cost and the land usage needed for the Artá railway is not justified.

After having analysed the transport study for the Island of Mallorca from which the Plan de transportes ferroviarios justifies the railway route for Artà, Cala Millor and Cala Rajada, the Anti Train Association ratifies that the project to reopen the railway to Artà is not justified in any way. For a start it shows that the study is not significant, because it was centred on the resident between Palma – Inca, not the residents in the Llevant region. Also, the numbers questioned is very low, and even then shows the transport in the Llevant region to be less.

459,138 m2 in expropriations for the Manacor-Artà train project.

Only the SFM (Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca) know the full details of the whole project. The local councils only have partial information.

The Anti-Train Association has been to consult the Manacor-Artà train project. According to the BOIB published 14 of July, 2009 by the Consejería de Movilidad y Ordenación del Territorio, details will be on public display 15 days from said date. Objections can be made until 30 of July. They need 459,138 square metres in order to construct there-opening project for the Manacor-Artà train.

Of these 459,138 square metres that they are going to expropriate, 396,803 m2 (86,42%) are from rural areas, 12,516 m2 (2,43%) urban, 42,337 m2 affect roads and 482 m2 will affect public waterways and irrigation networks.

This information is only available from the SFM (Serveis Ferroviarios de Mallorca). Even though the BOIB clearly states that it is available from local councils, they only have partial information. They only have maps with expropriations. They are not aware of the reasons for the changes to the expropriations or of the criteria used nor can you raise or see existing objections at the council offices. Also the new project has been published without first responding to previous objections.

The strong points of the Plan de transportes ferroviarios have become weak points.

One of the only two strong points of the Plan de Transportes Ferroviarios del Govern Balear was that one of the reasons to re-open the Artà line was that they wouldn’t have to expropriate. Now we know that they have to expropriate 3 times more land than is presently owned by the SFM.

The other strong point was the convenience to tourism, something else that doesn’t work simply because the line doesn’t reach Cala Millor and we don’t even know whether it will reach Cala Ratjada yet because the viability study hasn’t yet been realised.

Sant Llorenç, the area most affected by the expropriations and by work areas in Son Carrió.

Sant Llorenç is the area most affected by the expropriations. In total they need, in Sant Llorenç, 150,716 m2 of land so the train can once again pass through this municipality.

Also, in the new project they have decided to construct work areas in Son Carrió, on traditional country land. These work areas and the connecting roads will occupy more than 5,000 square metres between Son Carrió station and the cemetery. It is also assumed that they will have to clear more than 15,000 cubic metres of earth to level the ground for the railway. This will have a grave environmental impact on the small town of Son Carrió we don’t know how it will affect the urban planning or traffic circulation. In the first project they elected to place the work areas in Artà because they were near to a busier route. In Son Carrió only two routes that pass through the town reach the station and its associated areas. We don’t know how this will affect busses and lorries in Son Carrió being able to get to the station or the work areas respectively. Remember that on the road they need to use there is a school.

The following table shows the planned expropriations by municipality:

Municipality	Rural land m2	Urban land		Others m2	Totals m2
		Buildings m2	Not built m2
MANACOR	98.984	307	852	10.422	110.565
SANT LLORENÇ	136.675		122	13919	150.716
SON SERVERA	84952	3.004	2.942	17.620	108.518
ARTÀ	76.192	4.898	391	7.858	89339

According to the project the total value of these expropriations is 3.379.990 euros. This is a very low figure to pay to destroy the eastern region “Llevant” of Mallorca and for the liquidation of farming facilities in comparison to the global cost of the project, which will only benefit the construction companies involved in building the project.

Alternativa al Tren submitted its allegations to the Conselleria de Mobilitat Territori y Ordenació against the reopening of the railway Ar

The association Alternativa al Tren submitted its allegations to the Conselleria de Mobilitat Territori y Ordenació against the reopening of the railway Manacor - Artá.
These allegations relate to the contradictions in the "Strategic Plan for Infrastructure, Transport and Transportation of the Ministry of Public Works" (Plan estratégico de Infrastructuras y Transporte del Ministeri de Foment) the master plan for the regular transport (Pla director de transport de regular viatges per carreteres) of persons and road and the rail plan (Pla de Transport Ferroviari) of the Government of the Balearic Islands. After the basics of the plans, is the Project proposed by the Conselleria de Mobilitat, not coherent (not in line) with the directives and guidelines in the aforementioned basis plans were presented.