Cercanías Málaga

Cercanías Málaga is a suburban rail network in the Spanish city of Málaga and the Costa del Sol and is operated by the Spanish railway company Renfe. The Spanish Cercanías networks are comparable to the S-Bahn networks.

The network currently consists of two lines:

• C1: Málaga - Fuengirola
• C2: Málaga - Alora

In the city of Málaga is a suburban railway tunnel, which is currently being renovated and expanded to double track. He was previously used only by the line C1. After the renovation work it is to be used by both lines and is prepared for possible network extensions and renewals. It leads from the María Zambrano Central Station to another station towards the city center and ends in the provisional terminus Centro -Alameda.

The C1 line leads on the Costa Del Sol along and runs through the cities of Torremolinos and Benalmadena to Fuengirola. The track was initially places only single track and double track was built completely by the year 2008 in order to allow for high clock rates. The railway line is used exclusively by S-Bahn and has a significant meaning for connections between the tourist towns on the Costa Del Sol.

The line C2 leads from Malaga to Alora and uses currently the only broad-gauge long-distance route, which leads to Malaga. Since the track is expanded only single track and run more types of trains on the track, there is only one 90 -minute intervals is possible. Before the opening of the high-speed rail Córdoba - Málaga drove another long-distance trains on this route, so that the line C2 was able to take only two to three hourly. However, the Cercanías Málaga has a punctuality rate of 98 %.

As vehicles electric railcars of series 446 are used.

History

In the late 19th century, several narrow gauge railways were built in the area around the city of Malaga for the purpose of intercourse suburb of different private operators:

• Málaga - Coín
• Málaga - Fuengirola
• Málaga - Ventas de Zafarraya

Once these routes had been run down over the years, they were taken over by the state narrow gauge railway company feve and shortened the route to Ventas de Zafarraya to Velez- Malaga. Due to lack of profitability of these routes have been decommissioned by 1965. Only the route to Fuengirola building was renovated, converted to broad gauge and adopted by the State Railways RENFE. Here, some sections were laid, which also five underground stations have been created. Thus, the first S -Bahn line has emerged. A second line was later built on the existing state rail line to Cordoba. As part of the connection of the city to the Spanish high-speed network and the construction of a new central train station of the S -Bahn tunnel was extended towards the west, with an additional underground breakpoint was opened in 2009. The fact that the setting of the other suburban lines as a political mistake turned out can be seen from the fact that these routes should be rebuilt as part of long-term planning of the Metro network.

Extensions

Currently located in Málaga Málaga metro under construction, which could have a higher relevance in future also in the suburbs. Already after the first phase it is in addition to the suburban rail improve accessibility in the western parts of the city and the airport.

The Andalusian government has approved a project to build a new coastal railway along the Costa Del Sol between Almeria and Algeciras. As part of its implementation of the line should be extended to C1 to Estepona. According to the current state of the Spanish government is only willing to participate for the western portion of the costs, as the track will result in Marbella, where it is currently the only Spanish city without rail connections. On the eastern section it was initially thought to have run a line between Malaga and Nerja. It was also a realization as light rail in the conversation. Due to the current financial budget situation is likely, however, that this project is not implemented.

More concrete plans exist for a connection of the Parque Technologico de Andalucía in the suburb of Campanillas, is still not clear whether being built here at a new branch line or the curve of the existing line can be added to Cordoba. Furthermore, a new branch line from the airport to Alhaurin de la Torre is provided, which will open up both new construction areas around the airport.