THE RAILWAY RETURNS TO MANACOR...

TWENTY SIX years after the railway to Manacor was scrapped, the train has returned.
On Sunday, Balearic President Francesc Antich, accompanied by a host of local politicians, including central government delegate to the Balearics, Miguel Ramis, caught the inaugural Inca to Manacor train. The Inca to Manacor rail link was first opened in 1879, a year after the Inca to Sineu track was laid. But in June 1977, the service was suspended.
Expanding the island's rail service has been one of the local government's primary aims, key to its public transport plan, and in 2000 approved a grant to the SFM Majorca railway company to re-open the Inca to Manacor rail link, via the towns of Sineu and Petra. This month, the railway will be operating seven services a day in both directions as part of an introductory phase.
However, from the start of next month, the full service will come into operation with trains running between Palma and Manacor every 70 minutes with 14 services a day on weekdays, the first at 6.25am and the last at 10pm. On weekdays, estimated journey time from Palma to Manacor is 58 minutes and on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays, 64 minutes because of the extra stops made. Over 100 million euros have been spent by the Balearic government on expanding Majorca's railway service and “offering the public with an alternative mode of transport to private vehicles.” Already being studied are the proposed rail links to the University and Alcudia, but the outcome of the forthcoming May 25 local elections may well determine whether or not these two projects ever get off the ground.