The Councillor for Mobility and Housing has visited the new depot SFM is building in L’Enllaç, which will speed up maintenance tasks
The works of the new warehouse that Servicios Ferroviarios de Mallorca (SFM) is building in L’Enllaç station are progressing at a good pace. This was verified this afternoon by the Councillor for Mobility and Housing, Josep Marí, accompanied by the General Director of Mobility and Land Transport, Jaume Mateu, who visited the new facility, which will be used as a spare parts warehouse for the maintenance of the electrification installations.
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During the visit, the councillor took stock of the number of users who have travelled on Mallorca’s rail network this October, which is currently free for all those who have the Intermodal Card. This October, 801,601 people travelled by train and metro; 624,171 travelled by train and 177,430 by metro.
These figures place October 2022 as the month with the highest number of users of rail transport in Mallorca in history, with an increase of 16.1% of passengers compared to September 2022, which was also a record month, with 690,440 passengers on the rail network.
If we compare it with the same month in 2019, prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, the increase in passengers in October is 33.9 % (801,601 passengers in October 2022 compared to 598,645 in October 2019), with a higher increase in trains of 41.8 % (with 624,171 passengers in October 2022 compared to 598,645 in October 2019), with a 41.8 % increase in trains (624,171 passengers in October 2022 compared to 598,645 in October 2019). 171 passengers in October 2022 compared to 439,978 in October 2019), than in the metro, which recorded an increase in passengers of 11.8% (with 177,430 passengers in October 2022 compared to 158,667 in October 2019).
Overall, Mallorca’s rail network carried 202,956 more passengers in October than in October 2019. The average number of passengers per day was 25,858, with Thursday 27 October being the busiest day with a total of 35,287 passengers (26,422 on the train and 8,865 on the metro).
More storage capacity
The commissioning in 2019 of the new facilities associated with electrification, which has almost doubled the number of these facilities, has meant that SFM needed to increase the level of stocks of spare materials, especially those necessary to deal with possible incidents. This is where the need for the new warehouse being built at L’Enllaç station arose.
Until now, these materials have been stored mainly at the company’s premises in Son Rutlan and, to a lesser extent, at other locations. But now SFM’s workshops will be refurbished to adapt them to the needs and new trains that have been acquired and are being manufactured in the Basque Country. This means that the spare materials no longer have room in the Son Rutlan facilities and that it will be necessary to move to a new warehouse, which will also increase its storage capacity.
The projected warehouse has features specially designed for the function for which it is intended. It is a warehouse with dimensions especially designed for the introduction and organisation of electrification materials, with a single door and no openings at street level which, together with the cameras and access control, will allow for the correct and efficient management and safekeeping of these spare parts.
The location of the new warehouse at L’Enllaç station is optimal from the maintenance point of view, thanks to its location on the railway network, which minimises the time needed to access maintenance materials in case of need. The new area is also highly accessible both by track and road.
The project is included in the current Balearic Islands Sectoral Master Plan for Mobility.
The work, which began last July, was awarded to the company Obras y Pavimentaciones Man, S.A.U., for €516,446.29 (excluding VAT) and with a completion period of five months.