Galician President appeals for more in terms of railway investments

He spoke about this at an Interreg project forum

This year is the EU Year of the Rail and a stark reminder about this came from the northwestern corner of Spain where a forum for the CoLogistics project (under the Interreg programme) took place on 24 March to discuss the developments and challenges that laid in the way of completing the Atlantic Corridor, between Galicia (Spain) and Northern Portugal.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the President of the region of Galicia, spoke at that forum and called upon the national government to consider paying closer attention to this part of the Peninsula and to invest some of the funds allocated by the European Recovery Fund into the development of high-speed railway connections there. That, in his opinion, would allow for increased transborder cooperation in terms of more robust logistic chains and an improved competitiveness vis-à-vis the Mediterranean Region where a similar transport corridor is being developed.

For the time being, the Atlantic Corridor does not cross the Galician territory

Núñez Feijóo was specifically adamant about the need for a high-speed railway connection between the main cities of the two regions: Vigo (Galicia) and Porto (Portugal) that would reduce travel time to only one hour.

“If we get the South Exit of Vigo there will be an Atlantic Corridor, otherwise we will not be able to add synergies with the North of Portugal and we will have enormous difficulties to compete in the future," he explained his quest to ensure the intermodal operability and functionality of the Port of Vigo.

In essence, the Atlantic Corridor connects the Portuguese cities, passing through Spain to France. However, it swerves wide from the northwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula depriving it as a result from economic opportunities, investments and development.

In this regard, he also recalled the common position taken by his government and those of Castilla y Leon and Asturias to also introduce a Northwestern Corridor, as these regions are similarly affected by the route of the Atlantic Corridor.

"We are a very important geostrategic place for the European Union and we need to be competitive so that this geostrategic place is equipped with production and moving capacity, from ports to the interior,” stated the Galician President.