THE UNSUSTAINABLE TRAMWAY
On February 20, 2020, the plenary session of the
Seville City Council irrevocably approved the Special Plan for the Reserved
Platform of the Light Rail, San Bernardo-Santa Justa section and the Strategic
Environmental Study.
This action is not new, since in 2008 the Tramway
Expansion Project from the Prado de San Sebastián to Santa Justa was approved with
an initial budget of 80 million euros.
The then municipal
government (PSOE and IU coalition) led by Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín approved this first project Prado – San
Bernardo – San Francisco Javier Avenue –
Luis de Morales Avenue– Kansas City
Avenue – Santa Justa modifying the route approved shortly before with the
General Urban Planning Plan, not without controversy, given that the legal
coverage was questioned from the urban planning point of view since it did not
comply with the guidelines included in that document.
That project planned underground passages for
traffic and roundabouts, and its execution would be carried out in two stages,
the first stage would connect the Prado de San Sebastián with San Bernardo and
the second stage would take the tram to Santa Justa Station. The works of the
first stage began in 2009 and ended in April 2011 with the arrival of the
Tramway in San Bernardo.
Although some want to rewrite history, by trying
to make people think that at that time there was doubt between this layout or
the layout of Buhaira Avenue, nothing could be further from the truth. The stop
of the Tram in San Bernardo suggested its continuation by Ramón y Cajal Avenue towards San Francisco Javier Avenue.
During Zoido's mandate, the Report was updated
again to carry out the second stage of the expansion to Santa Justa with the
initially approved layout.
By the way, nobody adds to the costs of this
expansion, the cost which Seville has already paid for the hiring of the
various consulting and assistance work for the drafting of all these documents
(Reports, Projects, Plans, Studies, etc.) since 2008.
The new project approved in 2020 replicates that first project in terms
of layout and from Enramadilla to Santa Justa Station through San Francisco
Javier Avenue and Kansas City Avenue, it is a mere 1,900 metres long section.
It plans some differences compared to the former plan. For instance, the
underground passage will be for the tram and not for the traffic and there will
be an additional roundabout, at the intersection of Eduardo
Dato Avenue.
Everyone
knows that since 2011, with one minor exception, the Metrocentro has done nothing but lose
travelers: 4.54 in 2012; 4.30 (2013); 4.15 (2014); 3.93 (2015); 4.03
(2016); 3.97 (2017); 3.81 (2018) and 3.68 million passengers in 2019, the
lowest figure.Furthermore, the Special Plan recognizes that in
the new expansion "the attraction of travelers will be
practically from other ways of public transport, specifically buses."
The municipal government seems to forget that the
Public Transport Network is a "structure determined system"
that marks the model of the city, as contemplated by the Andalusian Urban
Planning Law (LOUA).
Moreover, neither the Special Plan nor the
construction project take into account the impact on the circulation of
vehicles produced by the new parking lots already in operation and those to be
built in the area due to the approved urban action planning in the last two
years which entail the building of at least 5,202 new parking spaces in the area.
This increase in the supply of car parks will
cause a huge call effect on the private
vehicle, as the number of spots currently available will be doubled.
BUDGET DEVIATIONS
The records of the
tramway works have been accompanied by silenced budgetary deviations.
The costs of the first section between Plaza
Nueva and San Bernardo raised up to 90
million euros. The cost of the second section Prado de San Sebastián to San
Bernardo, varies between 10 and 13 million euros, depending on the sources
consulted.
The new section from San Bernardo to Luis Montoto
will be no exception.
Everyone seems to forget to add other figures
such as the
costs of the Technical Management team and Health and Safety coordination work to the costs
foreseen for the execution of the work and acquisition of rolling stock, which
will amount to more than 1 million euros or one million euros that
Emasesa will spend on the
previous channeling works to displace
and renew the supply and sanitation networks in the area through which the
tunnel will go.
Neither are the financial costs nor the impact
of inflation considered.
Other criteria to take into account in the
execution of the tunnel are the water table and the presence of a terrain
mainly made up of expansive clays. An incorrect analysis of these two
parameters can lead to significant budgetary deviations for the treatment of
surface runoff water and water springs, as it has already happened in the works
of the first section.
Our estimate of the final costs of the expansion
of the San Bernardo - Santa Justa Tramway would be around 60 million euros.
Much has been written about the extremely high
cost of construction of the Seville Metrocentro, with a per kilometre amount of
travel practically equal to that of the Seville Metro.
But what nobody talks about is the annual operating costs, mainly
associated with energy and personal consumption, and the maintenance of infrastructure and facilities. According to
the economic-financial evaluation of the Special Plan approved in 2018, the
annual amount would amount to 3,929,272.87 (updated with the CPI as of May
2020).
It is too high a cost for a way of transport that
loses travelers year in year out.
TREES AFFECTED BY THE EXTENSION OF THE TRAMWAY TO SANTA
JUSTA
Another issue in
which the truth has not been told is the Trees that will be affected by the
expansion plan. Tree positions pending replacement are included as they will be
removed forever as a result of the new layout.
We do not count the hundreds of rose bushes that
will be plucked on Avenues.
GREEN CORRIDORS
Juan Espadas, Major
of Seville, has announced that he is working on a project to create Green
Corridors on San Francisco Javier and Luis de Morales Avenues.
This is not an idea coming from his municipal government. The initiative started and was promoted by Red Ciudadana de Sevilla, which drafted
the document of the proposal approved in the Plenary Session of the Municipal
Board of the Nervión District, on January
18, 2018, agreeing to launch “two
separate Urban Green Corridors, a Green Axis-Corridor (West / East). And a
second Green Axis-Corridor (South / North)” in the Nervión District.
The Green Axis-Corridor (South-North) would run
from Ramón y Cajal Avenue, San Francisco Javier Avenue, Luis de Morales to San
Justa. This Green Axis Corridor connecting the boulevard of Diego Martínez
Barrio Avenue and the Park with the green spaces of Santa Justa.
It is a contradiction that these Green Corridors
were not included in the Tramway expansion project to cushion their
environmental impact when they have had
more than two (2) years for their study and evaluation. It is also
contradictory that the same number of lanes for traffic
circulation is maintained.
We understand that there is no intention to carry
out these Green Corridors and they have only raised it to silence the criticism
generated by the expansion of the Tram.
