Calpe once again has a tourist train service following the recent award of the new contract. This week saw the start of this service, which will initially be provided with a diesel locomotive, although it is expected that the company awarded the contract will soon replace it with an electric train as the main vehicle.
This is the main novelty of the new contract, which has sought to reward proposals that focus on sustainability as well as the services of an Intelligent Tourist Destination. In this sense, the winning bidder, José Ramón Ginestar Morell, has also proposed the implementation of a sensor system to collect service data such as the number of people using the train, the frequency, and the route in order to compile statistics that will enable the service to be improved.
The new contract will have a duration of eight years and the successful bidder will have to pay the City Council a fee of 55,000 euros per year.
As for the route, the train will follow a circular route from the stop at Avenida Rosa de los Vientos (opposite the Hotel Roca Esmeralda), in La Fossa, and will pass through the main avenues of the municipality such as Avenida Ejércitos Españoles, Plaza Colón, Avenida Gabriel Miró and the old town to return to the starting point. It will have stops at Plaza Colón (next to the TouristInfo stand), Avenida de Valencia (next to the entrance to the Plaza Mayor car park) and Avenida del Puerto (opposite Restaurante Baydal) and will last approximately 3 minutes.
The tourist train is one of the attractions most valued by tourists who come to the municipality, according to the satisfaction studies of tourist demand carried out by the Calpe Town Council. "It is a service that is very popular, hence our interest in continuing to provide it in Calpe, although now without carbon footprint, which was one of our main objectives," said the councillor for International Promotion, Marco Bittner.