- The Minister Arcadi España has announced that the drafting of the project for this new tram connection that will link the hospital with the future Line 10 will be put out to tender.
- This line is part of the network extension projects and the new route will start from the section located between the Amado Granell and Hermanos Maristas stops.
The Minister of Territorial Policy, Public Works and Mobility, Arcadi España, has announced that the Generalitat will soon begin the procedures to complete the construction project for the new tram line that will reach the La Fe Hospital.
As explained by the Minister, Arcadi España, “Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana (FGV) will soon open the tender process for the drafting of the construction project of the new Line 12 of Metrovalencia”. The project will make it possible to establish the works necessary for the construction of the section that will connect Line 10 of Metrovalencia, which will come into service in 2022, with La Fe Hospital.
The new Line 12 will link Line 10, between the Amado Granell and Hermanos Maristas stops, with La Fe Hospital in Valencia. According to the proposal made by FGV, the new line will run along Hermanos Maristas Avenue itself and cross Ausiàs March Avenue, until it connects with Isla Cabrera Street and continues along Vicent Marco Miranda Street, then reaches Fernando Abril Martorell Avenue, where the hospital is located.
This alternative would consist of a route of approximately 4.1 kilometres in length, of which 2.2 kilometres would be part of Line 10 starting from Alicante street station.
However, the final route will be the result of the final decision to be taken after the assessment of a first planning study that will begin in the next few days.
As the Minister explained, “this proceeding, together with the other extensions planned to improve mobility in Valencia, has the strategic objective of satisfying the mobility needs of a large number of people”. “We have to provide an easy, accessible, egalitarian and non-polluting option for those who have to travel to La Fe and to do so by public transport, with Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana”.
Every day, up to 5,700 specialised healthcare professionals travel to work at La Fe Hospital. In total, taking into account health staff, patients and accompanying persons, only in one day, 15,000 Valencian men and women travel to this health centre, taking into account emergencies, outpatient consultations, radiological examinations, admissions, daily hospital procedures, surgical interventions, births, etc.
In addition, as explained by the Minister himself, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana will also put out to tender the projects for Line 11 and the extension of Line 10 from Natzaret to the Valencia seafront in the same contract.
These three projects, as highlighted by the Minister Arcadi España, “involve up to approximately 70 million euros of investment and will mean a great qualitative and quantitative leap in the mobility of the city of Valencia, providing service in areas that Metrovalencia does not reach at present”.
The actions to be carried out in the projects include the civil works, track construction, electrification and safety and communications installations, tolls, passenger information and information regarding services affected by the future Line 12, both the route itself and the corresponding stops to be established on the section and the alternatives for connecting the new infrastructure with the current lines.
Anniversary of the tramway
The Minister wanted to emphasise that this announcement is made on the day that Valencia commemorates the reuse of the tram as a means of sustainable public transport starting 27 years ago, being the first Spanish city to opt for its reuse which today is widespread in a large number of capitals.
Arcadi España highlighted the “unquestionable success” experienced by the Valencia tramway in recent decades and assured that this means of transport “looks to the future with optimism, determination and enthusiasm with the impetus given by the Generalitat for the construction of the new Metrovalencia Line 10 (Alicante-Natzaret-Grao), Line 11 (Alicante-Puerto) and Line 12 (Alicante-La Fe).
On May 21, 1994, with the opening of Line 4, a public transport system was recovered which, from the end of the 19th century until 1970, had structured the city and held together the daily life of its inhabitants. The event was attended by the managing director of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana (FGV), Anaïs Menguzzato, and the general director of High Technology Health, Investment and Infrastructure, Jaime Peris.
With the recovery of this means of transport by the Generalitat, Valencia became the first Spanish city to recover a modernised tram system. Arcadi España pointed out that, since then, “the progression of the tram has been constant, to the point that the big capitals such as Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Bilbao have opted for this means of transport”.
The Minister spoke about the past, present and future of the tramway. In this way, he recalled that “the first tram line was inaugurated in 1994 with 9.8 kilometres of network integrated into the urban environment of the city, something that is still preserved, but now with a length of 20 kilometres”.
Moreover, as he recalled, this means of transport “began with 1.5 million users in 1994 and in these 27 years has carried more than 165 million travellers with the three lines that exist today”.
