jueves, 28 de enero de 2010
jueves, 21 de enero de 2010
domingo, 10 de enero de 2010
viernes, 11 de diciembre de 2009
In the Levante the infrastructures and the destructionof the territory is increasing
Two weeks ago the Consell Insular de Mallorca approved the road plans. In this plan the widening of the road from Manacor to San Lorenzo is anticipated. In the last alteration that has been carried out only the name of the motorway for widening has been changed.The train from Manacor to San Lorenzo continues with the process of bidding. This signifies that in the Levante in a short time the infrastructures will increase and that for a good part of the kilometres between Manacor and San Lorenzo the motorway and the train will run almost parallel, leaving in between the two tracks a cutting of thousands of unusable square metres. The association Alternativa al tren again publishes its opposition to this aggressive destuction of land. The association considers that a good public transport system, based on the existing infrastructures,should be put in motion,competitive with the car and does not destoy more land.
sábado, 17 de octubre de 2009
The Anti Train Association asks the president to stop the railway project whilst the coverage of the Llevant region is not clearly known
The Anti Train Association – Transport East network have analysed the Plan de transportes ferroviarios of the Islas Baleares, the project to re-open the Manacor – Artà railway, the environmental impact report, the railway laws, and have followed the information relevant to railway transport in Mallorca.
After analysing all this information, the association considers that to carry out this project is an irresponsible policy that will degrade the future of public transport to the Levante of Mallorca with a grave loss of territory.
For these and the following reasons, the association asks that the president of the Islas Baleares re-assess the necessity and the priority of reopening and rebuilding the Manacor – Artà line. And that if at the end, he still considers that they must give priority to the railway line with the least potential demand of the whole of Mallorca, the n he doesn’t allow them to start work until all the plans have been drawn up and approved Manacor centre, the route to Cala Ratjada and the route to Porto Cristo. That is, we ask the president of the Islas Baleares, to not continue with the expropriations, nor start work, until they know all the needs and necessities for the whole of the Levante region (Manacor – Artà - Cala Ratjada and Porto Cristo), even though, afterwards, the project will be carried out in stages.
In addition, after following the budget of the central government we can see that there is insufficient money to build this project, even though there is a signed agreement.
Another thing that worries us is that if they start the project without a guaranteed budget and they have to stop and abandon the project after already expropriating our land that would then be also abandoned and uncared for.
We’re also worried that they will start work without having clearly decided on 3 major points:
1. The connection with the present station in Manacor.
2. The route of the hypothetical train to Porto Cristo. It only came to light in the July 2009 modified version of the project that there is a hypothetical future branch to Porto Cristo from the rural centre of Son Carrió.
3. The continuation to Cala Ratjada, that is still under planning.
To not have these points decided would cause future work to not coincide with work they do now:
1. If they don’t know where the train will pass through Manacor, perhaps the provisional location for a station will not be suitable and it will be work that needs undoing or redoing.
2. If they build the train sheds in Son Carrió without having rigorously analysed from where the train will travel to / from Porto Cristo (since the Consejería de Movilidad gave the only reason, recently, non-existent in the original project, to build the sheds in Son Carrió is for a hypothetical branch to Porto Cristo), could mean that future studies determine a better route for the Porto Cristo branch would be from Manacor. This would mean that in the future they might have to relocate the sheds to Manacor, and rebuild them, with the cost that this would once again incur.
3. If it is not clear how to route to Cala Ratjada, nor from where it will come from, it also isn’t clear where the station and the sheds will be located (as they won’t be in the same place) in Artà. These plans to Cala Ratjada, could affect the placement of part of the old plans to Artà, and this would mean, once again, a rearrangement, and additional cost.
Alternative Option
Given all the reasons that make us believe that the Artá railway is a poorly realised project for the Levante region and the lack detail in the project and in the plans, the Anti Train Association suggests a bus network that has maximum population coverage and that avoids the need to construct more infrastructures. It also proposes to convert the old railway lines into greenlines (www.viasverdes.como) and restore the stations to convert them into working stations. The greenlines would offer an alternative tourist attraction for the Levante region.
After analysing all this information, the association considers that to carry out this project is an irresponsible policy that will degrade the future of public transport to the Levante of Mallorca with a grave loss of territory.
For these and the following reasons, the association asks that the president of the Islas Baleares re-assess the necessity and the priority of reopening and rebuilding the Manacor – Artà line. And that if at the end, he still considers that they must give priority to the railway line with the least potential demand of the whole of Mallorca, the n he doesn’t allow them to start work until all the plans have been drawn up and approved Manacor centre, the route to Cala Ratjada and the route to Porto Cristo. That is, we ask the president of the Islas Baleares, to not continue with the expropriations, nor start work, until they know all the needs and necessities for the whole of the Levante region (Manacor – Artà - Cala Ratjada and Porto Cristo), even though, afterwards, the project will be carried out in stages.
In addition, after following the budget of the central government we can see that there is insufficient money to build this project, even though there is a signed agreement.
Another thing that worries us is that if they start the project without a guaranteed budget and they have to stop and abandon the project after already expropriating our land that would then be also abandoned and uncared for.
We’re also worried that they will start work without having clearly decided on 3 major points:
1. The connection with the present station in Manacor.
2. The route of the hypothetical train to Porto Cristo. It only came to light in the July 2009 modified version of the project that there is a hypothetical future branch to Porto Cristo from the rural centre of Son Carrió.
3. The continuation to Cala Ratjada, that is still under planning.
To not have these points decided would cause future work to not coincide with work they do now:
1. If they don’t know where the train will pass through Manacor, perhaps the provisional location for a station will not be suitable and it will be work that needs undoing or redoing.
2. If they build the train sheds in Son Carrió without having rigorously analysed from where the train will travel to / from Porto Cristo (since the Consejería de Movilidad gave the only reason, recently, non-existent in the original project, to build the sheds in Son Carrió is for a hypothetical branch to Porto Cristo), could mean that future studies determine a better route for the Porto Cristo branch would be from Manacor. This would mean that in the future they might have to relocate the sheds to Manacor, and rebuild them, with the cost that this would once again incur.
3. If it is not clear how to route to Cala Ratjada, nor from where it will come from, it also isn’t clear where the station and the sheds will be located (as they won’t be in the same place) in Artà. These plans to Cala Ratjada, could affect the placement of part of the old plans to Artà, and this would mean, once again, a rearrangement, and additional cost.
Alternative Option
Given all the reasons that make us believe that the Artá railway is a poorly realised project for the Levante region and the lack detail in the project and in the plans, the Anti Train Association suggests a bus network that has maximum population coverage and that avoids the need to construct more infrastructures. It also proposes to convert the old railway lines into greenlines (www.viasverdes.como) and restore the stations to convert them into working stations. The greenlines would offer an alternative tourist attraction for the Levante region.
lunes, 5 de octubre de 2009
They want to close the railway with the most demand in Mallorca and open one with the least
The Consejería de Movilidad contradicts itself.
Last week the Consejería de Movilidad moved to close the Palma Metro, in summer, against the economic recession, justifiable by the shortage of users.
On 29 December 2008, Antoni Verger, Director General de Movilidad, declared that the Palma Metro wasn’t sustainable because it only carried 2 million passengers a year and it needs 20 million a year to be able to maintain the line.
The same members of the Gobierno Balear have no problems in re-opening a railway line, the Artà one, that is estimated to carry less than 500.000 passengers a year, according to the Plan de transportes ferroviarios.
If the Metro suffers from seasonal fluctuations due to students not going to the UIB, then the Artà railway line, even though it doesn’t reach the tourist zones, has the seasonal problems of winter, as there is much less tourism in the Llevant region at this time of year.
The Anti Train Association wants to note these contradictions on the part of the Consejería de Movilidad. It is incongruent that the same people who maintain that a railway with 2 million passengers a years isn’t sustainable decide to re-open a railway with a potential demand of only 500.000 passengers.
Last week the Consejería de Movilidad moved to close the Palma Metro, in summer, against the economic recession, justifiable by the shortage of users.
On 29 December 2008, Antoni Verger, Director General de Movilidad, declared that the Palma Metro wasn’t sustainable because it only carried 2 million passengers a year and it needs 20 million a year to be able to maintain the line.
The same members of the Gobierno Balear have no problems in re-opening a railway line, the Artà one, that is estimated to carry less than 500.000 passengers a year, according to the Plan de transportes ferroviarios.
If the Metro suffers from seasonal fluctuations due to students not going to the UIB, then the Artà railway line, even though it doesn’t reach the tourist zones, has the seasonal problems of winter, as there is much less tourism in the Llevant region at this time of year.
The Anti Train Association wants to note these contradictions on the part of the Consejería de Movilidad. It is incongruent that the same people who maintain that a railway with 2 million passengers a years isn’t sustainable decide to re-open a railway with a potential demand of only 500.000 passengers.
viernes, 11 de septiembre de 2009
More train garages / sheds, more land consumption
Relocation of the sheds of Artà into three buildings situated in Artà and Son Carrió.
In the railway re-opening project, made public through the media in July 2009 for the second time, the first time being in December 2008, they have changed the locations of the garages / sheds in Artá.
The reason for the changes in location are due to objections made in December about a registered windmill located near the proposed sites in Artà.
The sheds in the December project were located at point 29+400, 600 metres from the end of the passage to Artà. In the project presented in July they were changed to point 28+600, 1600 metres away from Artà. In this case, the staff resident in Artà will now have to use their cars to get to work as opposed to being able to walk there, now that it is so much further away from the town.
On top of this, the change has also caused them to install some new sheds at point 12+800 in Son Carrió.
The change to the project is very significant. It means more land consumption and they have now decided to construct three buildings instead of one. In the first project there was only one garage / shed. In the second project there is a garage / workshop building with a warehouse / storage annex in Artà, and a couple of metres away there is an admin’ / office building. And in Son Carrió they have decided to build some new sheds. This also means an increase to the project globally.
In the first project it was clear that the required criteria used to locate the sheds was because they would be near a main road – quote: the highways and access roads to the sheds must be sufficiently wide enough to cater for the passage of heavy vehicles without causing a reduction in capacity of said highways (page 2 Proyecto de Reapertura de la Línea Estación de Empalme – Artá. Fase II: Proyecto Básico Manacor - Artá). With the new location of the sheds, particularly in Son Carrió this requirement is not fulfilled, since to get to the sheds in Son Carrió it is necessary to use the only street that goes through this small rural town and that, in addition, goes past the school.
Why? With what criteria?
The Anti Train Association asks what were the criteria that the engineers and politicians used to determine the new location of the garages / sheds. In the time that the basic project was displayed to the public it didn’t show any of these criteria nor did it state the space (m2) that the buildings would occupy and the difference in cost to use more land and to construct the buildings.
The locations of the sheds are as follows:
Location of the garage buildings in Artà at point 29+500 in the project of December 2008.
Construction of 3 independent buildings with the change in location in the project of July 2009. Garage building at point 12+800, Son Carrió and sheds, warehouse and offices at point 28+600, Artà.
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)
