The train, the subway, the rush
A few months ago, the French Government announced that, until at least 2037, it will not make a decision about extending the Paris-Hendaya High Speed line from Bordeaux (where it currently ends) to Hendaya. It is not clear –it has never been very clear- when it will ever make it to Hendaya, or even if it will arrive there at all some day. That announcement does put a damper on our Basque section of the Spanish Madrid-Hendaya High Speed train.
A few days ago, the Councillor for Transportation of the Gipuzkoa Regional Government announced that the construction of the subway for the San Sebastian area was halted. First, the ground gave in, then water and sand appeared. The overall cost of the subway construction will increase between 50 and 70% which will force the contract with the construction company to be terminated. The project will have to be designed anew and put out to tender once again. A big damper on the subway.
Both events encourage me to reflect on both infrastructures. I offer a respectful and sincere reflection on their social need and relevance. The two infrastructures are different and independent of each other but they have much in common: both are socially, economically and politically controversial and debatable due to their high cost, low social usefulness and their high environmental impact. They both respond to the dominant model of development in the Basque Country, in Europe, in the world.
I will not discuss technical aspects, data, amounts, real alternatives. I will not fall for easy Manichaen condemnations. I do not question the good intentions of those who promoted these projects in the Basque institutions. Yet, I frankly state that, in general, I consider that these infrastructures do not agree with a sustainable, green model of development, with an integrative and egalitarian mobility, with a solidary local and global economy –the only reasonable and truly productive in the long run-, in short, with a humane and harmonious life model.
The cost of these infrastructures is astronomical, unacceptably wasteful, particularly in the current situation. When there are not enough teachers, when the public health system cannot cope, when unemployment increases and wages and pensions decrease, when the marginalized are more and more, we cannot waste money. Two decisive questions come up from way down inside me: where do we want to go so fast? With whom do we want to travel? The final destination we select will decide with whom we travel, and the travel companion we choose will define our final destination. So, where are we going and with whom?
I understand the logic behind a high speed train from Cádiz to Paris, Berlin or Moscow to drastically decrease air travel, among other things, and I understand that this train may cross the Basque Country. But it is hard for me to understand that here it should diverge to connect the three Basque capital cities, Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastian (the so-called Basque “Y”), separated by a total of 172 km, not enough distance or time for the train to reach its high speed. However, after 20 years of construction work, the Basque segment is well advanced, and now maintenance costs must be added to the construction costs. But still without knowing when the Spanish railroad coming from the South nor the French railroad coming from the North will connect with the Basque segment. Thus, our railway and our train will be isolated from the North and from the South, who knows for how many years, or perhaps for ever, and it will only be used for direct travel between Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastian. A small elite of people in a hurry from those cities will benefit from it –with everybody’s money. And on top of all that, this trip will be, at best, no more than eight or ten minutes shorter than the direct buses in service for many years. Is saving eight minutes worth such an expense? We are told it will not be so expensive because… Europe will pay for part of it. But European money is our money and other peoples’ money, some richer than us and most poorer than us. I have never understood it and today I understand it much less than before.
I also have unsurmountable objections to the subway for the San Sebastian area. Connecting the city with its region is necessary, they say. But, operating in that area, are there not two good trains, TOPO and EUSKOTREN, in addition to the Spanish RENFE, and a very good network of buses, just like in the entire province of Gipuzkoa? The fact is that the construction work started in the center of San Sebastian, and was well advanced, until the soil and the sea said “that’s it!”. Is a subway really necessary in this small and beautiful city, with only a 20-minute walk between Amara and La Concha, and with excellent electric buses connecting all downtown streets? I do not understand it, either. In Gipuzkoa, many small villages or mountain neighborhoods do not have public transportation services, none at all, like the peaceful and beautiful Aizarna where I live, for which the closest bus stop is 4 km down the road, so… car up and car down.
What I understand the least is this crazy acceleration which is destroying the planet, this universal competition that is condemning to poverty an ever-increasing majority, this rush that takes away our breath. No good solution exists now for the High Speed Train or the Subway, but I ask to every responsible politician, please, think it over, friend, because nothing can be good for some if it is not good for all.