Puente says that “the Vitoria option is the most plausible” to link the high-speed train with Navarra

The High Speed ​​Train connection between the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre remains an unknown. The two already known options remain on the table: the connection via Vitoria-Gasteiz or via Ezkio. Although without going into details, today the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility of the Government of Spain, Oscar Puente, has leaned towards the Alava option, ensuring that today “It is the most plausible option“.

During a visit to Pamplona on Thursday, the Minister of Transport said that they have to “work” to define a high-speed line connection with the Basque Country, although he acknowledged that the Ezkio-Itsaso section is giving them “problems.”

Puente stressed that “hydrogeological surveys” are not being carried out because they are not being “authorised by some town councils, or even by some individuals”, which, he said, “makes it difficult to take that section into consideration”.

Furthermore, he says, the Ezkio-Itsaso option would force them to “reverse gear upon reaching a specific point to provide the service,” which brings, according to him, “technical complexities even of time“.

The Spanish Government’s Transport Minister therefore believes that the most “plausible option on paper” is Vitoria-Gasteiz.

The provincial councils of Álava and Gipuzkoa are divided

In response to the words of Minister Puente, the spokesperson for the Provincial Council of Gizpuakoa, Irune Berasaluzehas assured that he maintains his position and that the Ezkio-Itsaso option It is “a country bet”.

A few days ago, the deputy general of Gipuzkoa, Eider Mendoza, already expressed her concern that the Vitoria-Gasteiz option was gaining strength to connect the “Basque Y” with Pamplona, ​​and she assured that the connection via Ezkio-Itsaso shortened the journey between San Sebastián and Pamplona by 25 minutes, as well as being an option with less landscape impact.

Berasaluze has announced that they are waiting to hold a meeting with the Secretary of State for Transport, José Antonio Santano, requested by the Provincial Council, but that they do not yet have a date.

The two options for the high-speed train to arrive in Pamplona are still being studied, and the final decision should be announced this month. As confirmed by the mayor of Ezkio-Itsaso, Joseba Tellería, at the beginning of the month on Radio Euskadi, no one has contacted them for consultation, and he pointed out that “everything is still up in the air.”

For his part, the deputy general of Álava, Ramiro González, said that he is “very calm” because he believes that the technical reports will support the capital of Álava.