Delays to Almeria high-speed rail line raise concerns

ALMERIA Council is not happy about how works on constructing the city’s AVE high-speed rail line are going.
The city administration reported that Mayor Ramon Fernandez-Pacheco held a meeting this week with Jose Carlos Tejada, the coordinator of the Almeria Mesa del Ferrocarril platform for organisations and institutions pushing for improvements to the province’s rail infrastructure, at which they shared their “concern” over “delays” in the works.
Both Fernandez-Pacheco and Tejada, along with Town Planning councillor Ana Martinez Labella, agreed that the works on the city’s high-speed rail line are “now more than ever a priority for Almeria.”
The council also criticised what it maintained is a lack of response from the Transport Ministry to two requests for meetings to discuss the situation on national government works and projects which affect Almeria, including the renovation of the city’s old railway station.
The mayor had harsh words for Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos.
The city council head said it is “urgent” that the ministry “provides us with answers on the outstanding matters with the city because silence is not going to resolve the problems or clarify uncertainties.
He added, “It is not the mayor the minister his turning his back on, but the more than 200,000 residents who live in Almeria and who it seems to do not exist for Mr Abalos.”