Starting this Monday, Majorcan Railway Services (SFM) is putting one of the new trains into service, reinforcing the Palma - UIB metro line service with four new services at peak times during rush hour, two in the Intermodal - UIB direction and two in the opposite direction. These services will operate from today on a regular basis on business days, Monday to Friday.
This reinforcement of the metro service to the UIB means doubling frequencies at the times of greatest demand, in the 7.30 am-7.40 am and 8.30 am-8.40 am time slots, and in general terms an increase in frequencies throughout the period from 7.15 am to 8.55 am, with trains running every 10 minutes in some sections and every 15 minutes in others. The service is also reinforced in the opposite direction.
Until now, the metro service offered a frequency of one train every 20 minutes throughout the day in both directions, with the first metro from the Intermodal station departing at 6.35 am and at 6.55 am from the UIB. The bus service is most in demand between 7.30 am and 8.40 am in the direction of the UIB.
With the reinforcement, users will have better frequencies between 7.15 am and 8.55 am. From Monday onwards, rush hour departures from the Intermodal station will be at 7.15 am, 7.30 am, 7.40 am, 7.55 am, 8.15 am, 8.30 am, 8.40 am and 8.55 am. Departures from the UIB will be at 7.35 am, 7.50 am, 8.00 am, 8.15 am, 8.35 am, 8.50 am, 9.00 am and 9.15 am.
The Councillor for Housing, Territory and Mobility of the Government of the Balearic Islands, José Luis Mateo, stressed that the implementation of these reinforcement services will enable a better frequency of service during the busiest times of the day and that it is an improvement that responds to the growing demand of users.
To offer this new service, the first of the five new units that SFM has acquired and which have been arriving in Majorca throughout this year has been put into operation. The first unit started running today with passengers.
"The reinforcement of frequencies is one of the commitments and one of the measures to improve the service that we intend to implement progressively", explained Councillor José Luis Mateo, accompanied by the General Manager of Mobility, Lorena de Valle, and the Manager of SFM, José Ramón Orta.
"The objective is to be able to respond to the current demands of the service by the citizens as the human, technical and rolling stock resources of the company allow it", stressed the Councillor, who wanted to recognise the effort and involvement of SFM workers to improve public rail transport. Despite a historic shortage of staff, particularly in the driving and traffic control positions, the company is making a huge effort at all levels to make improvements for users.
New trains
SFM has already received four of the five new electric trains being added this year to reinforce the fleet. These are state-of-the-art trains, each consisting of four cars (carriages) and featuring advances in many respects over those of SFM's current fleet.
The contract with Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) for the manufacture of the five trains and their maintenance during the guarantee period involved an investment of €54,653,612 (excluding VAT), 90% of which came from the European REACT-EU fund.