MADRID, 26 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -
Sumar has registered a battery of questions in Congress to find out if the Government has plans to recover the night train that connected Spain and Portugal, a service that was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has not yet been restored.
The deputies of the party Júlia Boada and Fèlix Alonso point out in the document, consulted by Europa Press, that the restoration of this night service "is something that many citizens expect on both sides of the Spanish-Portuguese border."
Specifically, they say that various groups, platforms, political parties and Portuguese and Spanish authorities are "firm supporters" of recovering this rail connection. However, despite having "recurrently" urged both the Government and Renfe to restore the service, there has still been no success.
Boada and Alonso argue that the night train service between Spain and Portugal would not only have environmental benefits by reducing the use of airplanes, but would also result in the improvement of economic and commercial relations with the neighboring country.
They also warn that Spain is lagging behind in the European commitment to promoting passenger rail transport, especially in a scenario in which numerous countries are promoting night trains, as is the case of France, which connects the cities of Paris and Nice; on the connection between Bratislava (Slovakia) and Split (Croatia); or the one that connects Berlin (Germany) with Brussels (Belgium).
In the opinion of the Catalan parliamentarians, this Spanish situation could be corrected with the recovery of the known as Lusitania, a night train that connected Lisbon with Madrid and the Surexpresso, which connected Lisbon with Hendaye and the rest of Europe.
For all these reasons, they ask the Executive if it plans to recover the night train and, if so, what deadlines it is considering. If, on the other hand, this option is not considered possible, the Sumar deputies want to know the reasons that lead the Government to "dismiss a way of traveling with a lower carbon footprint."
