First phase of railway´s great future approved

The Balearic government yesterday gave the green light to the 5'500 million peseta project to re-open the Inca to Manacor railway line. Government spokesperson Antoni Garcias, said that the aim is to have the new service in operation by January 2003. The cabinet also approved plans to start immediately expropriating the land needed along the 30.2 kilometres of track to make way for machinery and equipment. The Inca to Manacor railway will in fact be the first phase of the long term project to re-open the railway all the way to Arta and Garcias described yesterday's decision as a “historic step forward” for the government's public transport policy. The rail link between Inca and Manacor will be a single track service and in areas where the track runs through residential zones, special materials will be used in order to reduce noise and vibrations. Of the 30.2 kilometres of track, 2.8 will be in the municipality of Inca, 12.6 in Sineu, 9.7 in Petra and the final 4.9 in Manacor. In total, 77 crossings will be installed, 15 of which will be bridges and one underground.