“It will be wonderful to travel (by train) through Mallorca.” The lyrics of the song that Los Mismos popularized in the 60s of the last century can be applied as a license, with the addition of the Balearic railway system that, despite the orographic differences between both islands, is a reference for the Tenerife Council when considering a future guided transportation network. There are also similarities such as being limited geographies. This was defined during the technical conference on these mobility models in island territories held last Monday at the Santa Cruz Auditorium. In this scenario, Pau Cavaller, Infrastructure Technician of the Serveis Ferroviaris of the capital of the Balearic Islands, reviewed the 150 years of history of his railway.
Decision and courage. Eulalia García, Mobility Counselor of the Cabildo de Tenerife, values that “understanding this experience, developed in a reality like ours, is crucial and very enriching.” He highlights the fact of “knowing from the hand of Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca the past and, especially, the present and the railway future of this Balearic Island.” He emphasizes that “it is an island territory like ours, which has three train lines and two metro lines.” The counselor contextualizes the reality of Tenerife: «Our geographical space is limited, with one million inhabitants and a floating population, derived from the tourism that visits us, of about 200,000 people which, together with the high level of motorization on the roads, “It causes serious mobility problems on the Island that we must face with determination and courage.”
Balearic bet. Apolonia Fuster, like her colleague Pau, is a technician, in this case from Instalaciones de Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca. She participates in the final round table of the day and is very clear: “The solution is the railway, which is part of the past, the present and, above all, the future on the islands to facilitate the mobility of people.” In Mallorca, she points out, “we have had it for almost 150 years and we come to talk about the good and bad experiences we have had throughout history.” In this regard, she indicates that “there have been periods of splendor and others of contraction, but we learn from everything.” Fuster had only been to the Island once, but she knows its orography with the Teide as axis. “Our Island is much flatter,” she emphasizes. He explains that they have two railway lines, Una, Metropalma, underground, with eight kilometers to the university, and commuter trains that branch off, with 64 kilometers to Manacor – Rafa Nadal’s town – and 46 to Sa Pobla. Fuster believes that «The railway can be extrapolated to Tenerife due to its sustainability, especially in a small territory like ours. He values that “we have a great capacity to move people in a few meters and consume less territory.” He summarizes: “We plan to transport ten million passengers on trains this year.” Advantages: «Punctuality, speed and peace of mind to read a book or listen to a podcast on the way. “You gain in quality of life.”
From there and from here. The technique recalls the “constant and habitual” collaboration with Metrotenerife: “You want to bring the trains here and we want to bring the tram there.” Sentence: “The solution is not to put in more lanes, because they get stuck again.” Apolonia Fuster acknowledges: “At first, people are reluctant to use the railway,” but “at the level of environmental impact, it is a much less aggressive system than a highway, it transports much more of the population and with less occupation of the territory.”
Century and a half. Pau Cavaller lists the benefits of the Palma railway and guided transport such as high capacity, energy efficiency, the solution to the great challenges of mobility and territorial structuring. He reflects: «The railway is safer, more comfortable, more reliable and more efficient every day. In addition to developing a network to reach places where there is demand. He advocates “a policy coherent tariff, for intermodality to optimize coverage and structuring and for giving priority to actions aimed at increasing efficiency. He gives the idea of promoting “a political pact of consensus for the train.” Also applicable in Tenerife.