Cercanías Murcia/Alicante

Cercanías Murcia/Alicante (Valencian: Rodalia de Múrcia/Alacant) is a commuter rail service (cercanías) in the provinces of Alicante and Murcia. The line connects Alicante and Murcia with San Vicente del Raspeig, Elche, Orihuela, Totana, Lorca, and Águilas. It runs through 200 km of railways with a total of 26 stations.

Cercanías Alicante
Cercanías train in San Vicent Centre
Overview
OwnerRenfe
LocaleAlicante, Murcia, Elche
Transit typeCommuter rail
Number of lines3
Number of stations26
Annual ridership3,730,000 (2017)[1]
Operation
Operator(s)Cercanías
Technical
System length202 km (126 mi)
System map

Lines

The cercanías consists of three lines. Line C-1 connects Alicante and Murcia by 1 or 2 trains per hour. Line C-2 connects Murcia and Águilas. Line C-3 connects Alicante and San Vicente del Raspeig with about eight trains per day.

LineRouteDistance
Alicante - Elche - Murcia del Carmen76 km
Murcia del Carmen - Lorca - Águilas117 km
Alicante - University of Alicante - San Vicente Centre8 km

Line C-1

The railroad linking the cities of Alicante and Murcia was built in 1885. It passes Elche through a tunnel of 4 km in length, which was built in 1970s, eliminating over twenty level crossings in the city,[2] and includes 2 underground stops Elche-Carrús/Elx-Carrús and Elche-Parque/Elx-Parc. The average travel time between Alicante and Murcia is 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Since June 15, 2008 trains no longer stop at Beniaján, Torreagüera, and Los Ramos-Alquerías.

Line C-2

One train per hour circulates on line C-2 between Murcia and Lorca, with only three daily trains running to Águilas. The average travel time between Murcia and Lorca is 50 minutes and 1 hour 50 minutes between Murcia and Águilas.

Line C-3

The railroad between Madrid and Alicante was built in the nineteenth century, but it was not used for local traffic until 2007 when line C-3 was opened. The line is 8 km long and it takes about 12 minutes to get from Alicante to San Vicente del Raspeig.

Future expansion

Line C-3 is due to expand from Sant Vicente Centre using the existing line to Madrid as far as Villena, with the potential to add 2,000 daily rail passengers to the network.[3]

The existing rail line from Murcia to Cartagena is currently only served by Renfe Media Distancia services, and a Cercanías service has been proposed to enhance service frequency.[4] The reopening of the former branch line to Torrevieja has been proposed, as since the line's closure the town has become an important tourist destination. [5]

The new terminal of Alicante–Elche Airport was built with space allocated for a railway station and an Alicante Tram stop. In 2019, the Generalitat Valenciana granted €50,000 towards a feasibility study in connecting Alicante Airport to the rail network. [6] The same year, the Ministry of Development put out to tender the contract to build the airport rail link.[7]

Tren de la Costa

The Tren de la Costa is the name given to the planned project to extend Cercanías Valencia's C-1 line, which currently terminates at Gandía, to Dénia and eventually Alicante, along the AP-7 motorway.[8] The line from Gandía to Denia closed in 1974, however the town is connected to Alicante by Line 9 of the Alicante Tram system. A study was produced in 2016,[9] outlining upgraded stations on the C-1 line at Tavernes de la Valldigna, Xeraco and Gandia, and new stations at Oliva, Denia and Benidorm before reaching Alicante.[10]

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References
  1. "Los trenes de cercanías van casi vacíos y apenas superan la cifra de usuarios de hace diez años". 11 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  2. "El túnel que cambió Elche". Diario Información (in Spanish). 14 October 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  3. "El nuevo Cercanías Alicante-Villena doblará el número de pasajeros". lasprovin ias.es. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  4. "IU-Verdes Cartagena exige un servicio de trenes de cercanías a Murcia "de calidad y en cantidad". Europa Press. 17 December 2013.
  5. "The wait goes on for the Torrevieja Railway". www.theleader.info. 15 May 2019.
  6. "Los accesos a El Altet, la variante de Benissa y unir la A-31 con la A-35, las inversiones de Fomento en 2019". Alicante Plaza (in Spanish). 14 January 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  7. "Contract for first phase of Murcia-Alicante Airport rail link put out to tender". Murcia Today. 28 August 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  8. "El Tren de la Costa, un muro entre Valencia y Alicante". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 12 February 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  9. "ESTUDIO INFORMATIVO DE LA LÍNEA FERROVIARIA VALENCIA - ALICANTE (TREN DE LA COSTA) - FASE II" (PDF). Ministerio de Fomento. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  10. "ESTUDIO INFORMATIVO DE LA LÍNEA FERROVIARIA VALENCIA - ALICANTE (TREN DE LA COSTA) - Estaciones" (PDF). Ministerio de Fomento. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
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