Following an agreement reached between the Ministry for Public Works (Fomento), Dragados and Tecsa, the companies which jointly won the concession for the new AVE line through Loja, works that have been halted for the better part of a year can now recommence. For more than 560 days Granada province has been excluded from the fast train network, because works had been halted, after the companies proposed a change to the agreed budget for the project.
At present, Granada residents must take a bus to Antequera, then travel via AVE trains to Madrid for the rest of their journey, which takes three hours and forty-five minutes. The new AVE connection will run directly from the City of Granada to Madrid in just three hours. When finished, the new AVE line would provide Granada citizens with a one-hour service to Malaga. Reaching Barcelona would take just over six hours. The Granada-Seville service would take two hours.
Works are scheduled for completion by next summer and all parties involved aim for the service to be operational by autumn 2017. Rafael Catalá, the acting minister for Fomento, informed members of the media that the proposed alterations to the project's budget will amount to less than 10% of the official sum permitted, so all is still within current legislation.
Fomento confirms Government's Commitment to Project
Rafael Catalá was quick to point out how committed the government is to linking Granada province to the AVE high-speed train network. He said that already 1.4 billion euros out of the total 1.6 billion euro budget had already been spent and around 90% of the works for the new infrastructure was already complete. His statement to the media came after a meeting with institutional and business representatives involved in the project during which the deadlock was finally broken and an agreement reached to recommence works.
So far no Change
When government officials use the word “immediately”, work rarely starts right away. No machinery or workforce made an appearance on any of the project sites around Loja. Fed up having to explain to residents why there was yet another delay, Granada's mayor, Francisco Cuenca, demanded an explanation from Fomento.
ADIF, which is part of Fomento, and in charge of most of Spain's rail network's management, replied with typical civil servant vagueness: not all elements of the project required the presence of a workforce. Works were “ongoing” and about to escalate “progressively”, according to ADIF.
Opening up new Opportunities for Commuters
For potential house buyers from abroad the connection of Granada province to Spain's high-speed rail network is good news, as it opens up new commuter possibilities, especially if Madrid is to become the EU's new financial centre after Britain triggers Article 50 to leave the EU. High paid jobs in banking and insurance could become available in abundance, if London's international banks and insurers pack up and leave the UK to make Spain's capital their new European headquarter.
Granada offers home buyers a wide range of properties, from luxurious modern apartments to fully converted medieval town houses and mansions in the historic part of Granada city. Prices for traditional fincas in rural areas close to the city can be as low as 45,000 euros for properties in need of full renovation. They do come with a fair plot of land and have the added advantage of being within an easy commuting distance to Granada for those working there in tourism-related businesses or at Granada's university.