The railway section between Tarragona and Sant Vicenç de Calders may exceed its capacity when the Mediterranean Corridor comes into service, an entry into operation that the study by the Plataforma Mercaderies per l'Interior places probably in 2027. The report calculates that the network will go from 170 daily trains to 251 between passengers and freight.
The paradox is that the infrastructure called to boost rail freight transport threatens to block one of the key points of the network in Tarragona. The study maintains that the corridor would take that section to 126% occupancy, when in 2023 it was already operating at 85% of its total capacity.
The third track would increase traffic to 251 trains daily
Efraín Larrea, engineer and author of the report, maintains that the system is already in a phase of pre-collapse and saturation. In his opinion, the implementation of the third track will add more tension between passenger services and freight trains.
Right now, the company Mcrit calculates that between 3% and 4% of freight transport in Tarragona moves by rail. With the opening of the third track, that share could rise to 10% by 2030, but the study warns that the increase would come on top of an already very strained infrastructure.
According to that analysis, the problem would not only affect freight traffic. Larrea warns that there will be more delays and also train cancellations, with the possibility that some travelers may have to complete journeys by road between Tarragona and Sant Vicenç de Calders.
"When someone who used the train to export goods sees that the solution doesn't work and returns to the truck, it will be difficult to convince them to return to the train" - Efraín Larrea, engineer and author of the report, Plataforma Mercaderies per l'Interior
The platform proposes a diversion between Vila-seca, Valls and Roda de Berà
Faced with this scenario, the platform proposes diverting some freight trains from the most congested section. The alternative involves a line from the Vila-seca junction to Valls and, afterwards, using the high-speed route between Camp de Tarragona and Roda de Berà.
The report presented by Mercaderies per l'Interior concludes that this option would be profitable and that the investment would have a return within five years. The proposal seeks to free up capacity on the conventional corridor before traffic increases with the new infrastructure.
The warning also points to the economic impact for the territory. If companies cannot receive raw materials or ship their products by rail, the study indicates that they could lose competitiveness and even abandon Tarragona, in a province where railway claims from the sector have been on the table for some time.
Larrea places the critical moment at the entry into service of the Mediterranean Corridor, probably in 2027, when the same stretch that in 2023 absorbed 170 trains daily would have to support 251.