The Spanish Transport and Sustainable Mobility Minister Óscar Puente has unveiled the definitive project for Alicante’s Parc Central. The new green space will be built over the current track layout at the city’s mainline station, incorporating commercial, leisure, and public transport access zones.
The estimated budget stands at €420 million, to be delivered through a joint venture between the Ministry — via infrastructure manager Adif — Alicante City Council and the Valencian regional government.
The scheme addresses a long-standing demand that has been on the agenda for more than two decades. Since the creation of the Alta Velocidad Alicante Nodo de Transporte (AVANT) consortium in 2003, authorities have explored various options to address what they describe as an “urban fabric fracture” caused by the railway tracks. The decisive push came in 2023, when an options study was commissioned; it identified the solution presented today as the optimal one on technical, economic, and planning grounds.
Railway infrastructure: the project’s cornerstone
The transformation got underway a year ago with remodelling works on the station’s track layout, for €20.2 million. Once this first phase is complete, Alicante station will have 14 tracks in total: 10 in standard gauge and four in Iberian gauge.
Three new standard-gauge tracks will be laid, and a further three currently in Iberian gauge will be converted. The result will be, in the minister’s words, “one of the highest-capacity terminal stations on the entire Spanish network.”
The railway integration element itself — the fourth of seven agreements underpinning the project — provides for decking over the tracks using the park structure itself, retaining the existing rail alignment. This avoids costly excavation works and allows construction above the tracks without interrupting all rail operations.
Seven agreements to shape the Parc Central
The project is structured around seven protocols between the parties, each tied to a specific phase or zone.
- The first redistributes 220,000 square metres of building rights to the western edge of the future park, flanking the PAU-1 development and the Ciudad de Asís neighbourhood, to preserve the breadth of the green space
- The second reorganises road traffic around the perimeter, removing vehicle access from inside the park
- The third addresses the conservation of the historic Red Bridge, providing for a maintenance plan for its central span, whilst removing the end sections that currently act as an urban barrier
- The fifth agreement determines the location of the new railway station, to be sited at the park’s southern entrance and serve as the city’s “southern gateway”
- The seventh protocol covers the recovery of architectural heritage, with the historic station building as the centrepiece and the restoration of its original appearance
A strategic node on the Mediterranean Corridor
Puente framed the Parc Central within Alicante’s growing role on the Mediterranean Corridor, stressing that the city “is, and will increasingly become, a strategic node of the Valencian Community” as major railway schemes in the region progress.
The minister also highlighted the cross-party nature of the agreement, reached between administrations of different political persuasions: “This is how it should always be.”
Following the project presentation, a further protocol will be signed to formalise the division of responsibilities between the three administrations.