VALENCIA'S main station and city centre will be linked by metro to the iconic and futuristic City of Arts and Sciences within a year or two – work is ready to start this coming April on the long-awaited Line 10.
The plans had been gathering dust since 2011 due to lack of funding to carry them out, but a budget of €50 million has finally been set aside and the diggers will be moving in within three months.
Of this, some €20m will come from the European Union's FEDER regional development fund.
Once built, Line 10 will run from the Avenida de Alicante, south of the city centre and close to the main València Nord station, through the picturesque Russafa neighbourhood and onto the future Amado Granell station, after which it will run above ground, calling at five stops – Hermanos Maristas, City of Arts and Sciences, Oceanogràfic, Moreras, and terminating in the Nazaret neighbourhood.
Mayor Joan Ribó (Compromís) says this will respond to the decades-long campaigning on the part of Nazaret residents, who have long been cut off from the rest of the city due to lack of funds for public transport – these having been spent on extending the port southwards.
Once the 5.32-kilometre metropolitan rail link is up and running, Ribó hopes to see it extended coastwards, to the Cabanyal district and then to the Marina, which will provide additional access to the Malvarrossa beach and the tropical vaccinations clinic.
This year, €28m will be spent on architects and on equipment for stations, and the line is expected to be in operation by 2021 at the latest.
Photograph by the Valencia regional rail network, FGV
