Government Prioritizes Cantabrian Train While Estepona Remains Without Date for Rail Connection
Ministry of Transport Opens Door to Execute Bilbao-Castro Project in Phases but Keeps Málaga-Marbella-Estepona Corridor Trapped in Studies Until 2027
The contrast couldn't be more evident: while the central Government already contemplates executing the railway connection between Vizcaya and Cantabria in "profitable" phases, the coastal train that should connect Málaga with Estepona remains paralyzed in studies that won't conclude until 2027. A discrimination that maintains Marbella as the only major European city of more than 100,000 inhabitants without a train and the A-7 collapsed without a real public transport alternative.
Transport Minister Óscar Puente has confirmed this double standard by announcing that the Cantabrian project will be divided into three executable phases—Bilbao-Castro, Castro-Laredo, and Laredo-Santander—while for the Costa del Sol he only offers "patience" and a feasibility study of 1.2 million euros that will take 18 months to complete.
As reported by the newspaper ABC, this decision evidences clear territorial discrimination that has generated discontent in Andalusian institutions. In the north, the Ministry has discarded the 2022 study and is already working on a new phased approach, taking for granted that the Bilbao-Castro segment "will pass the profitability criteria without major problems." In Andalusia, despite recognizing that the Málaga-Marbella-Estepona sections are "the most urgent due to their high population density," the Government limits itself to commissioning yet another report without committing to a single executable kilometer.
Same Problems, Different Treatment
The parallels between both corridors are evident. In Vizcaya, the saturation of the A-8 is invoked to justify the urgency of the train; on the Costa del Sol, the A-7 suffers chronic daily traffic jams that suffocate the mobility of workers and residents. Added to this pressure is that the AP-7 between Málaga and Estepona is Spain's most expensive highway, which makes daily commutes more expensive and penalizes the economic competitiveness of the western Málaga coastline.
The President of the Málaga Provincial Council, Francisco Salado, has been forceful in his warnings: "Each year of delay will cost more than the work itself." A reality that the Ministry seems to ignore while accelerating northern projects with the argument of their "socioeconomic profitability," a criterion that the Málaga-Estepona corridor amply meets with its more than 600,000 permanent residents and millions of annual visitors.
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From Impossibility to Indefinite Postponement
Minister Puente himself has gone from calling the Andalusian coastal train "little less than impossible" to admitting that "it is possible," although he has let slip that "it will be a reality when I am no longer minister." A statement that confirms the lack of real political will to address an infrastructure considered vital by local institutions and the business fabric.
The Ministry's initial plan divides the Andalusian corridor into five sections: Málaga-Fuengirola, Fuengirola-Marbella, Marbella-Estepona, Estepona-Algeciras, and the Málaga-Nerja branch. However, while in Cantabria they are already working on phased execution, here they only talk about studies that place any progress "at the earliest in 2026," according to ministerial sources.
Estepona and Marbella, Abandoned Compared to Cantabria
The Andalusian Regional Government has demanded equal treatment and has denounced that the central Government has not presented effective measures beyond toll bonuses of "null impact." Mayors of the western coastline and business organizations agree in demanding that the corridor be activated by sections now, exactly as is being done in the north, starting with the Málaga-Marbella-Estepona segment where demand and traffic congestion are undeniable.
The key difference lies in political priority. While the Vizcaya-Cantabria redesign has been elevated to a priority objective with the possibility of immediate execution by sections, the Andalusian coastal train does not appear at the same level despite meeting identical criteria of demand, congestion, and network effect.
There is no technical reason not to apply the same phased execution strategy on the Costa del Sol that the Ministry already contemplates for Cantabria. The Málaga-Marbella-Estepona connection could begin immediately if the same political will demonstrated with other territories existed. What is lacking is placing Andalusia at the same priority level as other autonomous communities, ending a discrimination that harms hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors to the western Málaga coastline.