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Rail passengers and cyclists furious at Renfe decision to ban bikes on Los Nietos trains
The Spanish train company has decreed that – unlike anywhere else in the country – bicycles will not be allowed on FEVE trains between Cartagena and Los Nietos
Cartagena Mayor Noelia Arroyo has asked Renfe train company to allow bicycles on the Los Nietos FEVE trains during the summer months and at peak times in response to a baffling decision by the rail operator not to let bikes on board.
At present, the service, which depends on the Ministry of Transport, does not allow passengers to take bicycles on the FEVE trains with them between Cartagena and Los Nietos.
A new RENFE directive actually states that bicycles are banned from the train carriages on the line not only in the busy summer months, but all year round, during what are considered peak hours.
A collective of groups in favour of sustainable and active mobility in Cartagena, including BICUE, Fridays for Future, Movili-CT and Vía Libre Cartagena, have started a Change.org campaign to collect signatures to ask Renfe to reverse its decision.
“This new decision is totally arbitrary and does not correspond to the use policy in force on the rest of the metric gauge lines in Spain, where access for users with bicycles is not limited during the summer or at peak times,” said the groups in a joint statement.
They continued, “Decisions like this clash head-on with the guidelines set by the European Union and the Spanish government. The different administrations, national, regional and local, adopted an unavoidable commitment by signing and assuming the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations and carrying out actions to implement and develop the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, since sustainable mobility reduces energy consumption, especially non-renewable energy, and reduces environmental pollution, which causes terrible negative effects.”
In fact, they believe this is in reality part of a wider scheme by Renfe to begin cutting the Los Nietos train service altogether.
“We believe that behind this new regulation lies the desire of Renfe to eliminate a line that is considered to be loss-making, without taking into account the social and economic benefits that it brings to the users of the line and to the towns through which it passes,” they said.
These same groups, with the support of many other local parties, have organised a protest on bicycle this Thursday June 29 in Cartagena, starting at 8pm from the Centro Cultural Ramón Alonso Luzzy cultural centre on Calle Jacinto Benavente to put pressure on Renfe to change its new policy.Cartagena’s Mayor Arroyo said, “It is a just demand of the users of this train. They have our support. We see the need to allow bicycles on the train at a time when the City Council is promoting actions to encourage sustainable mobility.”
Cartagena now has more than 45 kilometres of cycle lanes, and increase of 40% in the space of a few short years. However, for the stretch between Cartagena and Los Nietos, there are insufficient cycle lanes for those wishing to cover the same route as the train on a bicycle, meaning that due to the new Renfe rules those without cars have very few travel options.
You can sign the Change.org petition here to request that Renfe once again allow bicycles on its Cartagena-Los Nietos trains
Image 1: Felipe G. Pagán / Ayuntamiento de Cartagena
Image 2: Masa Crítica Cartagena / Inmovilidad Renfe
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