Andalusian Parliament urges La Linea rail link, citing border changes after treaty

A motion calling for La Linea’s inclusion in a coastal rail corridor linking Nerja and Algeciras was unanimously approved by the Andalusian Parliament development committee this week, which urged the central government in Madrid to reverse an earlier decision excluding the border town from the project.

The motion was tabled by the Partido Popular, which said La Linea’s position adjacent to Gibraltar made it unique compared to other municipalities, and that a post-Brexit scenario without border immigration controls would intensify existing transport demands.

“More than 15,000 people cross the Gibraltar border every day,” said PP parliamentarian Susana Gonzalez Perez, who hails from La Linea.

“They work, study and sustain the economy of an entire region.”

“And the scenario that opens up after Brexit, with the possible disappearance of the border fence, does not reduce that reality, it multiplies it.”

Arguing that removing border controls once the UK/EU treaty was implemented would create a shared urban and functional space of around 130,000 people when Gibraltar was factored in, adding infrastructure planning should reflect that scale.

“We are talking about a shared space of 130,000 inhabitants,” she said, added that planners in Madrid continued “as if La Línea were a peripheral, small and secondary city”.

The PP motion called for a branch line for La Línea from the Nerja–Algeciras coastal rail corridor, and urged Spain’s Government to consider anticipated mobility flows tied to Gibraltar and the border.

Ms Pérez also framed the rail project as a response to reliance on private vehicles and limited alternatives, linking transport provision to safety, employment access and emissions reduction.

The motion cited reliance on private vehicles for 62% of journeys, travel times of 75 to 105 minutes to Malaga, and limitations in intercity bus services, adding rail connectivity would save time, cost and CO2 emissions.

In her closing remarks, Ms Pérez again highlighted the border issue, describing it as “illogical and incomprehensible” that La Línea lacked rail.

The committee approved the motion unanimously.