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Date Published: 10/10/2022

Cartagena-Murcia trains to be cheaper and run more often from next March onwards

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The government has included the line as one of 5 in a pilot project to increase the number of daily journeys and reduce prices

Cartagena-Murcia trains to be cheaper and run more often from next March onwards

Spain’s Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda has included the Murcia-Cartagena railway line as one of its main projects to improve the rail service at the beginning of next year, with cheaper fares and trains running more frequently.

While Murcia’s local regional government did not include such a plan in its own budget, improving the trainline between Murcia city and Cartagena has been picked out by the central government as an important pilot project for the first quarter of 2023.

Taking the train between Murcia capital city and Cartagena currently takes around an hour and costs 5.65 euros before any discounts have been applied. At the moment, there are nine trains each way between the two cities, and the service also makes stops at the Balsicas and Torre Pacheco train stations. However, there are gaps of several hours between each train when there is no service at all, especially in the mornings, and there are complaints that the trains are often late.

The announcement comes even as the new 10km Torre Pacheco to Cartagena section of the long-distance, high-speed AVE train has been slammed for its invasive and disruptive effect on the local community.

The idea behind the new investment, according to the Ministry of Transport, is to streamline the “services necessary to provide a response to daily mobility… between Cercanías and Media Distancia” lines.

Four other areas of Spain will form part of the same project: Palma del Río and Villa del Río, in Córdoba; Illescas and Fuenlabrada; Málaga-Caminito del Rey; and Medina del Campo-Valladolid-Palencia. If the project is successful, it will be rolled out to more areas of Spain.

The General State Budget has allocated 10 million euros to this pilot project, through the increase in the allocation of compensation to Renfe, of which approximately 2 million euros would correspond to the Murcia-Cartagena line.

Once the General State Budget comes into force on January 1, 2023 (provided that the Government manages to get it approved by the Spanish Parliament before the end of the year), the Ministry of Transport will have a maximum period of 30 days to establish the conditions of how many trains will run, at what times and what the prices will be. Renfe will then begin to provide these services within a maximum period of 30 days of this establishment.

This basically means that by early March, the railway route between the two main cities of the Region of Murcia should start operating this expanded service with more affordable prices for travellers.

This discounted rail travel is on top of the much-publicised free rail passes on Cercanías trains for regular travellers and 50% discounts on Media Distancia trains, a measure which the government plans to extend into 2023.

Now read: The free railcard service in Spain explained—how to travel for free on Spanish trains

Image: Ayto Cartagena

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