Trenet inches forward

MODERNISING the Calpe-Denia section of the Line 9 trenet starts next month.

Angel Garcia de la Bandera, managing director of regional rail operator FVG, accompanied by the company’s Alicante delegate Pilar Garcia Reche, recently met the mayors of the affected towns to update them.

Line 9 is the continuation of the Line 1 TRAM between Alicante City and Benidorm.  It is now 101-years-old and electrification has reached only as far as Benidorm although the line’s track, signalling systems, and safety measures have been renewed as far as Calpe.

Last July FGV closed the Calpe-Denia section, explaining that although modernisation would start this autumn, the deteriorated line was no longer safe. An hourly bus service now operates between the two towns and according to FGV this section of Line 9 will not be fully operational until 2019.

“The Generalitat and FGV are committed to this line that has been neglected for so long,” De la Bandera told the mayors. 

The €6.7 million phase beginning in November will renew track and renovate station infrastructure in Benidorm, Teulada, Gata de Gorgos, and Denia.  

At the same time Automatic Blocking and Automatic Train Protection systems that prevent collisions will be installed between Calpe and Denia.