The Port of Tarragona and ADIF join forces to promote the port-rail connection

First meeting of the Port-ADIF technical working group

The Port of Tarragona’s president, Josep Maria Cruset, and its director general, Ramon Ignacio García, accompanied by members of their team, met today with representatives from ADIF for the first meeting of the joint working group that will allow the two institutions to cooperate more closely on improving the rail-port logistics connections.

The decision to set up this joint working group was a result of a good understanding between the two institutions and the day-to-day cooperation already existing between them. ADIF is responsible, on behalf of the Port Authority, for the operation of the trains working in Tarragona’s port zone.

The objective of the working group and today’s meeting is to increase the joint effort to implement the cooperation systems that will allow a more efficient rail operation, both in the Port zone and in the connections between the Port and the general rail network, as well as with the arrival of the third rail, the Mediterranean corridor, etc.

Ferroport

The ultimate objective of the Port of Tarragona is to have an efficient and competitive railport system to optimise the rail transportation of cargo from the Port to the rest of the Iberian Peninsula and Europe. This system involves the implementation of a joint Port-ADIF operating procedure based on a technical and technological convergence that will allow the optimisation of the intermodal operation.

The implementation of this system will reduce the time spent loading, unloading and waiting, as well as any incidents, etc. that could arise without a total coordination between the two areas of port and rail.

The Port of Tarragona is promoting rail transportation with an eye to the not-too-distant future when it is planned that the third rail will come into operation. This will place the Port in a situation to compete with the ports of northern Europe via a direct European gauge connection and provide the opportunity to increase its cargo traffic to the centre of the Iberian Peninsula by connecting the intermodal terminals of La Boella (already operative) and Guadalajara-Marchamalo (in the planning stages).

This working group is in answer to the interest shown by the European Commission and the Trans-European Network (TEN-T) in turning Tarragona into a strategic node for the Mediterranean Corridor, as it is at the point where the branch to the south of the Iberian Peninsula converges with the central branch to Zaragoza and Madrid.