Union Demands Calpe To Benidorm Trains Are Changed Due To Excessive Internal Heat

THE UGT (General Workers Union of Spain) has demanded that measures be undertaken to change the trams which run between Benidorm and Calpe.

The UGT stated they “suffer frequent breakdowns in the air conditioning system due to being at the end of their useful life, which causes temperatures of up to 35 degrees inside the carriages”, reported La Marina Plaza.

Line 9 is the one that covers the route between the Benidorm and Denia stations. After the opening of the new Quisi viaduct, new modern trains between Denia and Calpe are already in use, but from Calpe to Benidorm, the old ones are still used due to the fact that renovation work has yet to be undertaken at Mascarat bridge, which will be completed in 2024.

The union has demanded that the newer trams are used along the whole route “to avoid health risks to the personnel who work on board, and of the users during the heat wave”.

The UGT criticised the delay of the new models and the constant breakdowns of the old ones, manufactured between 1966 and 1973.

The union also pointed out that “this situation is

not new, it has been repeated every summer for years and it does not respond to the level of quality that FGV offers in the rest of its lines. This causes a “work overload” of maintenance, when a third of the staff are missing.

In 2019, FGV acquired six 5,000 series hybrid trains, diesel (for non-electrified sections) and electric (for electrified sections).

It was planned that the new trains would come into operation on Line 9, but the delay in the works on the bridges of the section meant that they were assigned to Line 3 (Luceros-Campello) and later to Line 1 (Alicante-Benidorm).

The UGT concluded by stating that despite the complications and the lack of units on the line, since January 2023 three new trains have been serving the Denia-Calpe section following the completion of the new Quisi bridge, and ask that this also happens in the section between Calpe and Benidorm.