Imagine travelling by train from London to Brighton in 23 minutes or to Southampton in 32 minutes. Imagine letting the train take the strain from Oxford to Brighton via the outskirts of London in 50 minutes. Un-thinkable, of course.
But not for us living in Andalucia. We will soon be able to travel on a network of AVE (Alto Velocidad Espanola) rail routes inter-connecting all the regional cities in not much under an hour. Malaga to Savills in 55 minutes, Cadiz to Granada in 1 houe and 38 minutes, and Ronda (where I live) to Malaga, Sevilla, Cordoba and Granada in less than an houe. Hurrah!
The Spanish Government is committed to constructing 10,000 kilometers of high-speed rail routes throughout Spain by 2020. The plan means that 90% of the population will be no more than 50km from a station on an AVE route. It is no surprise then that President Obama recently praised Spain`s railways while launching similar plans in the United States. The plaudits are well deserved. There are already more high speed routes in Spain than either France or Germany, and both are well ahead of the United Kingdom.
Funded partly by European Union grants and loans from the European Investment Bank, the network is cutting Spains carbon imissions because AVE trains use 19%less energy than conventional trains.
Source. Ray Ward. The Olive Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment