Monday, December 03, 2007
Ecologists derail the Tenerife train
Many have been dreaming of trains in Tenerife recently, the most ambitious project to date being for a train to link the capital, Santa Cruz, with the south of the island.
It's to have, we're told; 20 tunnels, 33 viaducts, will expropriate 4,121,287 square meters of land, travel at 220 kilometers per hour and cut the journey time from Santa Cruz to Las Ámericas to 45 minutes - all for the bargain price of 1,200 million euros.
And, in my purely superficial view, surely, trains are better and more environmentally friendly than cars. Much quicker too.
Not so apparently as, in another report, we learn that ecologists - Ben Magec-Ecologistas en Acción - have managed to have the project suspended as a precautionary measure. This "derailment" is at first understandable, as it appears to be because substantial modifications had been introduced into the plan since it was unanimously approved back in April.
Indeed, earlier reports indicated that the big change in the plan was in the route that the train would take - now diverted to cut right through plantations - since electricity pylons - I'm guessing these eyesores - had been installed alongside the motorway, where the train was supposed to have run.
The solution to this, of course (dreaming again), would be for UNELCO to be required to put the cables underground, for the train to go back where it was supposed to go and for everyone to live happily ever after ...
Reading on, however, it appears that the ecologists reject progress entirely, calling the train plan "devastating to the environment and unnecessary".
They suggest studying alternatives, such as a bus lane on the motorway.
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I used to be against development of the island too, but after travelling along there in peak hour(s) traffic in the morning, I have since changed my opinion.
No matter what your opinion is on the remaining developments in Tenerife, traffic is getting denser along there all the time. It is needed now and by 2015 it will be long overdue. Once it has been built, it will remain a more environmentally-friendly form of transport than either cars or buses.
So long as they don't put a train up to Las Cañadas or anywhere else that hasn't already been developed, I'm all for it...
I'm decidely *against* the F1 circuit though.