The last council of ministers of 2023 has made several decisions. One example has been the extension, for one more year, of the levies on extraordinary profits in both the financial and energy sectors. On the other hand, the withdrawal of the tax reduction on electricity and natural gas bills has been announced "gradually". The free or subsidized public transport and the maintenance of a large part of the anti-crisis labor measures have also been confirmed. In addition, in the ministerial team meeting, the creation of the state commercial company (SME) Train Port Barcelona (TPB) was given the green light, at the initiative of the Ministries of Transport and Finance.
It is a public company that will be 50% owned by the Port of Barcelona and by Adif, the Administrator of railway infrastructures, and whose mission will be to manage the railway logistics hub of the metropolitan area, now formed by the intermodal terminals of Can Tunis and La Llagosta and by the future ones of the port, in addition to the so-called railway highway.
According to the port management, this logistics hub is a key piece to promote railway freight transport in the Mediterranean axis and its area of influence, as well as for international transport. Although it has been confirmed this week, the idea of creating Train Port Barcelona is not strictly new, as it began to be defined three years ago. The company was already contemplated in the collaboration protocol to promote the construction of the new southern accesses, road and rail, of the Port of Barcelona. The document was signed in October 2020 by representatives of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, the Generalitat, Adif, Puertos del Estado and the Port of Barcelona.
What is intended with this peer collaboration is for the partners to work in a coordinated manner in the planning and development of infrastructures that include already built facilities with improvement plans, and others yet to be built. Specifically, these are the Can Tunis railway complex, the La Llagosta Intermodal and Logistics Terminal, the Barcelona Port Intermodal Terminal, and also the Railway Highway Intermodal Terminal, or ferroutage. The objective is the optimization of investments and efficient management of resources to achieve more competitive services. The idea is for Train Port Barcelona to be the single point of contact for railway operators and rail-port terminals, offering a quality service to the end customer.
Investments of nearly 50 million euros
Lluís Salvadó, president of the Port, highlights that the constitution of this new company "is a very relevant step for us to move from collaboration between institutions to cooperation and co-responsibility in rail-port management to achieve maximum efficiency in environmental terms, connectivity, and costs." Salvadó points out that Train Port Barcelona is an unprecedented initiative that innovates in infrastructure management. The president also thanked Adif for its willingness to establish this project in Barcelona, as "it will allow us to learn from each other, grow and improve as organizations, and provide a better service to the country's economy."
The new state-owned commercial company will operate the Barcelona Rail-Port Management Center (CGFB), where the planning and coordination of service provision between Can Tunis and the railway terminals of the Port of Barcelona are carried out. TPB will also be responsible for managing the maneuvering services and train operations. Later, it will build and operate the future Intermodal Terminal of the port for a period of half a century. This will be done under a public domain concession regime. The facilities, which cover almost 14 hectares, will represent an investment of 22 million euros and will feature a four-track yard, two gantry cranes, and a container storage area.
Also, for a period of 50 years, TPB will manage and operate the La Llagosta Intermodal and Logistics Terminal. The global transformation of this terminal, located 20 km from the Port, foresees an even more significant investment: 25 million euros, already in its first phase. This facility will have a four-track yard, two gantry cranes, and a container storage area of 14.5 hectares.
Finally, and regarding the awaited ferroutage or Railway Highway terminal, TPB will have a minority stake in this facility, which will be built on the old bed of the Llobregat river. With this new equally-shared SME, the desired railway connection through the accesses to the port of Barcelona could, finally, begin to gain some speed or, at least, the desired rhythm.