LETTER FROM ANDALUCIA – 29 NOVEMBER 2004

HIGH SPEED NEWS
The warnings from the previous owners of the compulsory purchased land used for the laying of the new high speed AVE train track were apparently not enough for the constructors, who now have the embarrassment of seeing as many as six of their cuttings collapsing onto the new track bed following recent heavy rain in Andalucía. The new line is being built between Málaga and Córdoba to link with the Seville-Madrid line. The landslides will result in a delay in the opening of the line, and add another 9 million € to the cost.
Development minister Francisco Álvarez Cascos described the events as 'normal incidents when the climate is unfavourable'.
Meanwhile the PP mayor of Huelva claims that the AVE will have reached his city in the year 2007, complete with a new station. He made the claim despite the fact that not even the environmental impact report has yet been drawn up. The year 2007 is important for Valencia too, which has learnt that in 2007 it will be the host city for the America's Cup – the most important event in the sailing calendar. There was much celebration and the claim that their AVE high speed train would be brought forward ahead of time to link Valencia to Madrid by 2007.
But that man Cascos, has poured cold water on the plans, warning that the completion data cannot be guaranteed.
The AVE train is now also running between Madrid and Lleida, but the public are far from happy. The trains only run at 150kms per hour – half the planned speed because there are still problems with a new signalling system. Add to the than the new Siemens trains are not yet ready for the line – having severe problems in testing. It appears the trains vibrate far too much when they meet another one going the other way. That seems a complicated problem to solve. Oh – and geologists too also warn that the Lleida line could be victim of land subsidence at any time.
Added to that, the cost per km to travel on the Lleida AVE is almost double that on the Madrid to Seville line, built in haste, but successfully and on time more than ten years ago, for the Expo 92 in Seville. I note that, despite the cheaper prices, the Seville line remains RENFE Spanish railways most profitable route. British friends laugh in disbelief when I tell them that travellers on the Seville line get their entire ticket cost repaid if the train is more than 5 minutes late.
Last Sunday 106 passengers boarded the AVE at Puertollano at 8-45 destination Madrid – and due to arrive at 9-58…but as the train pulled into the Atocha station they heard over the loudspeakers that the train was arriving 5 minutes and 20 seconds late – and therefore their ticket costs would be refunded. I've checked how often this happens and have discovered that since RENFE introduced the 5 minute rule on the Seville line on September 11 1994, the company has paid back less than 2,200 €. Upto the end of last year there had been 75,605 claims made by passengers – out of a total number of passengers carried of 33 million 332,322. That works out at 0.23% - not a bad success rate. I can British commuters laughing from here.

The Andalucian Gastronomic Association AGRAS has this week been organising a gastronomic route across the region. More than 80 restaurants are taking part in the idea which promotes only local cuisine and food made from Andalucian ingredients. The local tourist boards have welcomed the idea – It sounds good to me –

As does the idea from 28 year old Francisco Ruiz from Loja in Granada province who has this week been named as European pizza making champion. The winning pizza was made with, wait for it, quail drumsticks, broad beans and honey. Mmm.

And finally,
Maria Jiménez is one of the more colourful characters from the Spanish music business. Often the subject of the sensationalist and gossip press, I remember that she was once appearing live on a gossip show on Canal Sur, when her mobile phone rang. She answered it and thus managed to be live on Tele 5 at the same time. Anyway she's just published her new disc – De María…A María, and I laughed out load when I read on the CD cover the following – 'This disc also contains a blank recordable CD so you can make your own copy'. Inside María says –'use me but don't abuse me' and thus draws attention to the serious problem, for the record companies at least, of making pirate copies of CDs. María also took her protest onto the streets of Madrid this week demanding the police to move on the people who sell these discs on the street and also demanding that IVA VAT be reduced to 7% on CDs.

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