Spain, while Italy is shaken by the protests of the "no Tav" in Val di Susa, has decided to dust off the railway project which envisages crossing the central section of the Pyrenees towards France. The Minister for Infrastructure, Ana Pastor, has in fact urged Brussels a include the Pyrenean section (Corridor 16) in the European rail freight transport mega-project.
After all, Spain, but also Portugal, are the collectors for Europe of a good part of the goods coming from Africa. The Iberian railway network is therefore strategically important for the transport of goods both towards Northern Europe, with the crossing of the central Pyrenees, both on the Mediterranean axis (from Barcelona) and then Italy.
Coming to the Pyrenean project, these should connect the Spanish side to Toulouse in France, thanks to a investment exceeding 10 billion euros, of which 30% financed by the EU and the remainder by the governments of Madrid and Paris, as well as a share financed by private individuals.
The work includes it excavation of a 40 km long tunnel. The Spanish government calculates that the Pyrenean section will absorb 20% of the total goods (in significant growth) circulating in the peninsula.
