Line 9 still not back on track for Calpe, Costa Blanca

SINCE the summer of 2016, trains on Line 9 between Benidorm and Denia can go no further than Calpe.
That was when the Calpe-Denia section was closed on safety grounds while a €41.2 million modernisation project was carried out. Initially, the Valencia region’s rail operator FGV estimated that all of Line 9 would come into service by 2019. This was later put back to early 2020 and before trains can carry on beyond Calpe it will be necessary to finish work on the 6.7 kilometres between Teulada and Gata and the 10.7 kilometres between Gata and the Denia terminus.
The regional government announced last summer that the existing diesel trains would probably start running between Calpe and Teulada at some point this year but it now seems inevitable that Line 9 passengers will continue making part of the journey to Denia on a bus provided by FGV until 2022.
The Quisiravine just inside the Benissa boundaries is generally blamed for the delay, as a new bridge will be needed to take the weight of the electro-diesel trains that will eventually serve Line 9. Introducing these trains will also require modifying the platforms at Calpe station as well as those in Benissa, Teulada, Gata and Denia as they were designed for diesel trains and will now be too high.