The Metro is farther from the Downtown

The Metro is farther from the Downtown

The Board makes clear that line 2, the only land crossing under the historic district, will be the last to be built because surveys of passenger demand less return you predict that the 3, 4 and 1.

The section of Metro Line 2 of which cross the center underground through the streets of the Incarnation and the Duke will be the last to be built in Seville, judging by recent statements to the press this week by the managing director of Railways Andaluces, José Luis Nores, in the snacks group La Raza. This line was not so urgent when the tram was coming to the Incarnation and Puerta Osario, but it is now that the City Council has failed in this project and there is no public transportation to the bus.

With three months to finish writing the final drafts of construction of the three remaining lines (2, 3 and 4), Railways reiterated that the priority is passenger demand and which, at that point, line 3 (Pino Montano -Bermejales/Bellavista) far exceeds the 2 because the polls say they would have less passenger demand and lack of connection to Line 1, which would make it less profitable.

Railways added two other "technical factors" that complicate the construction of Line 2: the problems of groundwater and archaeological remains. In sum, it would have to spend more money on construction because, Nores, the cost of an underground line is "between five and eight times more expensive" than a surface, depending on the depth is reached.

With regard to passengers, Railways now presents recent technical studies that show that the stops of the Incarnation and the Duke would be the only passenger demand more in line 2, but in insufficient numbers to make it profitable in its entirety: Seville East-Torreblanca to the monastery.

The Board has not yet submitted figures to substantiate this claim, but the hypothesis is hard to believe. The line was planned with stops in Seville's most populous district requesting transportation for decades with the center at the train station of Santa Justa and the bus to Plaza de Armas, and the future location of offices and recreational areas will Puerta Triana La Cartuja, which are not exactly depopulated areas. It therefore appears that the policy reasons outweigh the techniques when Railways states that "in line 2 will be done" because they aproved the Andalusian government, but added that "few people live downtown and that not known if the residents of Sevilla take the Metro to go downtown. Of offices and shops or talking.

"The water problem" underground from the Bell to the Alameda, near the zone of influence of the stop of the Duke, is quoted in second place. On this point, however, experts consulted by this newspaper make clear that the water that is under the center is the same as the water table that, as in all of Seville, appears very shallow (at the level of the river), the more in lowland areas, such as the Alameda, but ruled out that extra streams or channels. Today there are techniques to deal with all types of soils. The key is how much you want to spend and how soon.

Third, the manager of Railways spoke of the archaeological remains evident that there would be overcome to build the Incarnation and Duke stations, construction is inevitable but executed with TBM tunnels.

The theme of the historical remains of line 2 has already been cited in 2005 by the then responsible for Andalusian Railways, Teófilo Serrano (now president of Renfe), at a conference sponsored by the College of Architecture at the University of Seville, where he referred to which should be superimposed on different building tunnels deep beneath the historic buildings and narrow streets of downtown, and the long terms would be required. "What worries me in line 2 are the deadlines. It would be a piece of work," Serrano said an audience member before concluding that "they should be approved because the Board and planners have said they can do, but we must study well. "

Teófilo Serrano's conference shows that the arguments of 2005 of the remains and the difficulties of work in line 2 is now added new ones: a supposed low demand. According to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport in the horizon of 2020 with the four subway lines in place, the 3 would be the first to travel with an annual demand of 34 million (113,591 passengers / day), compared with 17 92 million passengers per year estimated in 2. In short, users double in the 3 to 2 and the latter recorded the worst results of all four. Line 4 would reach about 23.53 million passengers per year within ten years and line 1 is already in operation would be 21.76 million passengers / year, ie, improve its current result but remain in third place 17, 92.