SPANISH PORTS: Spain’s National Ports Authority has approved a total of 29 projects to benefit from the Port Terrestrial Accessibility Finance Fund. These will be eligible for a total of €466.8m, which will be available until 2019, of which €113.7m will be made available in 2016.
Of the funding, €441.5m relates to rail connections and €25.3 million to upgraded road access. A total of 50% of the profits generated by each port will be transferred to the fund.
Up to €363.4m of the planned investment is for connections within the port area, with the main projects at the ports of Avilés, Barcelona, Escombreras, Ferrol, Sagunto and Sevilla. A further €102m involves upgrades to the existing network. Under this, the Algeciras-Bobadilla rail line will be improved; a new alignment is to be built at Camarillas in Murcia; renovation of the rail line will take place between Sagunto and Zaragoza and between Miranda and Bilbao; while the line between Cadiz and Cabezuela will be improved.
