Renfe and the Portuguese operator Medway will put the first train out of the Merida freight terminal early on Thursday the 23rd with destination to Bobadela (Portugal) and, from there, to the Portuguese seaport of Sines .
The train, which arrived from Portugal on Tuesday, will load 1,190 tons of tomato and glass concentrate today, both “entirely Extremaduran” products destined for export, Renfe explained.
The merchandise terminal in Mérida has an extension of 21,000 square meters in which it has three routes, one of 360 meters and two of 260 meters, and the space is completed with an office building of 180 square meters.
This first service is the result of the logistics alliance formed by Renfe and the Portuguese railway operator Medway, which began operating on November 15 at the terminal in Madrid, and the traffic forecast is for two trains a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, to Bobadela and the port of Sines (Portugal).
Thus, it is stated that work is underway to include a third weekly circulation and, at a later stage, to establish connections and new traffics from Mérida to other Spanish and Portuguese terminals and ports.
Renfe will use a 333 series locomotive to train the train and, once it has crossed the border, it will be replaced by Medway’s EURO4000, he assured.
However, both operators are working so that the development of the alliance will allow direct entry to the terminal in the future.
Likewise, it is explained that “in the future” it will be possible to transport food products, in refrigerated containers, to ports “whose final destination is the international market”.
Renfe recalled that Adif, owner of the Mérida terminal, awarded its management “at risk and luck” to the logistics company formed by the two main railway operators on the Iberian peninsula at the end of September.
The award was made for a period of five years, with the possibility of an extension for another two, he pointed out.
Thus, it has been asserted, the beginning of the activity confirms “the commitment to the industrial fabric of the Extremaduran Community”, whose companies “will see increased distribution and export options for the Extremaduran agri-food industry”.
In this sense, he stressed that the suppliers with whom he works from this terminal are auxiliary companies in the area and the staff of the Goods terminal is made up of workers from Extremadura.
SOURCE: EL PERIÓDICO EXTREMADURA.COM
