ALCUDIA RAILWAY EXTENSION PROJECT HITS THE BUFFERS

PALMA
THE plan to extand the railway to Alcudia has hit the buffers.
Over 100 residents, hoteliers and hunters oppose the Balearic government's latest plan to run the track extension alongside the Sa Pobla road and through the Son Fe valley into the north of Alcudia.

The opposition group favours the original plan to extend the railway from Sa Pobla to Es Foguero in the Port of Alcudia and from there, run connecting bus services and even the proposed tram along the Bay of Alcudia in the directions of the Port of Pollensa and can Picafort.

A spokesperson for the anti-Son Fe route said this week that it is politically independent and has only been set up to defend the opinion and the rights of Alcudia residents. The original route, which the group favours, was mapped out in 2003 and apart from being shorter than the new proposal, it will also have much less impact on the environment.

The “Son Fe, No Way” movement said that hundreds of people, businesses, agro-tourism hotels and farmers included, will be affected by the widespread compulsory purchase of land needed for the controversial north route but, the south route will only affect six properties and one of those belongs to the power company GESA.

The group says that, if the government does not want to build a station as Es Foguero and operate a network of local trams, then relocate the station to the area round the Magic centre in the heart of the resort and will provide easy access to roads in all directions of the north east of the island.

Work on extending the train to Alcudia is due to start as soon as possible now that the much needed central government investment has been secured, however, the battle over which route the new link will take could rumble on for months and delay the project.