628.3 million euros: 18% of 3.5 billion invested so far. This is the contribution of the European Union (EU) for the implementation of the Pajares railway diversion that specialists see as a risk of reimbursement in the event that the route is not mixed, to make compatible the passage of passenger and freight trains. In the application made by the Spanish Government for the action to receive community Cohesion Funds and from ERDF is literally stated that "because of its strategic nature as a high-speed passage," the line "is included in the Strategic Plan for Infrastructure and Transport 2005-2020 as a high-speed mixed traffic line in two routes, so that both passenger and freight trains will circulate, which will mean a better use of the line and better articulation of the territory".
"If the diversion is used only for travelers we can have a new Musel case", warns a specialist in European funds consulted by LA NUEVA ESPAÑA. This expert refers to the fact that the European Commission has requested the repayment of the 247.5 million cohesion funds that it granted to the expansion works for the pier in Gijón, given the alleged irregularities detected by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). This body could act in the same way with the line items for Pajares if it proves that they do not fit the object of the financial assistance.
The former Minister Ana Pastor ordered to install Iberian width tracks in the diversion, but with a mixed gauge sleeper to allow its future reconversion to the standard width (AVE). However, last Friday, and in accordance with the coalition agreement signed by the PP and Foro, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport announced a change of criteria and its decision that the tunnel starts service with standard width. In addition, it included a commitment to invest 145 million Euros in the centenary slope of the ramp of the pass, which should remain in service for freight trains, since the entire national cargo network and its mobile fleet has an Iberian width.
The possibility that the Diversion is only for travelers has led the Pajares Tunnels Technological Platform to warn that, if so, we would be contravening the content of the European financial assistance application, with the consequences that it could lead. This group of Asturian technicians is chaired by Vicente Luque, former deputy head of the Trans-European Transport Networks program of the EC.
Specifically, within the 2000-2006 financial assistance period, the EU allocated to the Pajares tunnel works 284 and 107.9 million Euros of the Regional Development Fund (ERDF). In addition, studies and projects took another 3.2 million Euros from the Trans-European Transport Network plan. In the period 2007-2013, the action received another financial assistance of 233.2 million Euros.
The Community assistances for the Diversion have already been reported to Brussels by Foro in 2014, as this group understood that there had been a fraud due to the inclusion of the Iberian width in the tunnels. In addition, people from Foro also went to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) to inform them that the certifications of the European financial assistance for the diversion totaled more than 22,5 million between 2010-2012 and that the works had only progressed one kilometer in that period.
