Metro closed “indefinitely” because of flooding

PALMA
THE Balearic government has closed the metro service “indefinitely”, after Saturday's rain once again caused flooding at the Son Fuster Vell station.
Gabriel Vicens, the Balearic minister of mobility, said yesterday that the metro would remain closed “until there is a minimum guarantee of security and good service.” In the meantime, the EMT (municipal bus company) has laid on a bus service for metro passengers, leaving from the Plaza España.
Balearic leader Francesc Antich, lamented what he called “a very bad legacy received from the Partido Popular (PP)” during an inspection visit to the station, accompanied by Vicens and Mayor of Palma Aina Calvo.

Antich, Calvo and Vicens saw the underpass between the two platforms, which was the area of the station which had been flooded.
After visiting the station, Antich was very critical of the decision of the last Balearic Government, led by Jaume Matas, to “open the metro in too great a haste. “This flooding of the metro, the second in little more than a month, is one indication of the very bad legacy which they left us. The current Balearic Government is, unfortunately, discovering a job which was done in a very deficient way, with too much haste and with very little security.” Although he is still waiting for the reports on the new problems in metro stations caused by the floods, Vicens said that the metro will be closed indefinitely until the deficiencies which had been inherited from the PP were solved. On this occasion the water pumps had not failed to operate.

Vicens explained that the pumps could not cope with the amount of water which flooded the Son Fuster Vell station. “Water accumulated to a height of 2.5 metres in spite of the water pumps working”, said Vicens, who described the metro's situation as unacceptable, as it had only come into operation in April this year.

Vicens announced that if the metro was closed to solve the problems, the work could take a long time. “Passenger security cannot be taken lightly”, he said. He went on to say that the problem was due to the design of the metro which especially affects the Son Fuster Vell station when it rains heavily. “We are doing a technical audit to analyse the whole situation, but it is clear that this flooding situation cannot be tolerated as people come first”, said Antich.

The Balearic Government said that the water in other metro stations flooded Son Fuster Vell because of the channels connecting the stations. That is to say, Son Fuster Vell station became a sort of drain for the stations in the Son Castello industrial estate, according to Vicens.

The Minister, together with Antich and Calvo, confirmed that the platforms and the overhead power cable were not affected by the floods.
Calvo said that the flooding in Son Fuster showed the haste with which the metro had been put in place, without consulting Palma council when Catalina Cirer was in charge. Apparently, reports about the metro's problems, which as yet have not been made public, warned that the drainage system in the area of Son Fuster station was insufficient to cope with a particularly heavy rainfall.