Back on track: Manacor train service to reopen today

PUBLIC Works minister for the Balearics, Mabel Cabrer, paid a visit yesterday to the newly refurbished railway track running between Sineu and Manacor, one day before the official reopening of the line to the public. The service had ground to an abrupt halt in March this year when a train was derailed at Petra after it collided with a retaining wall that had collapsed onto the track; 13 people were taken to hospital. Cabrer highlighted the “necessity of keeping the track closed during these past six months to be able to carry out thorough reform work to ensure track safety”. She added that during this time, “we have tried to meet the needs of erstwhile train users, as much in terms of price as in timetabling of an alternative public transport system by road”. Yesterday's maiden voyage of the reopened service started off from Manacor station at 10.30am. The VIP passenger group were able to stop at various points along the way to examine the result of the reforms. On the Sineu stretch of track, technicians pointed out that, apart from retaining walls having been reinforced with stone, the slope of the railway bank had been lowered. “Old railway sleepers have been used to batten down the soil” they explained. “Plants have been bedded over the sleepers. When they grow, they will blend in nicely to give a landscaped garden effect” said a Works director.
The train stopped at a section of track known as son Tei, where the minister got down to study the precise spot where the accident occurred.
Finally, the train arrived back in Manacor, where it surprised many residents in the area who came to the doors of their houses to watch.
Manacor's mayor, Antoni Pastor, declared his “satisfaction with the return of the service” and hoped that there wouldn't be any more problems.