Railways of the Generalitat Valenciana (FGV) received last year to twenty domestic and foreign delegations attracted to its operating model. The TRAM Metropolitano de Alicante received fourteen commissions in addition to seven other visits to Metrovalencia, some shared by both services.

Countries like Britain, Germany, Netherlands, Israel, USA, Belgium, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica and Brazil have expressed interest in the railway network of the Generalitat Valenciana.

The technicians responsible for transport operating companies, concessionaires and public or private bodies with responsibilities in the management of mobility of visitors come to Valencia interested in different issues concerning the management of metro, tram, train, TRAM and rail networks of Alicante and Valencia. In addition, there have been several visits by course participants or rail assemblies have been held in different cities of Spain.

TRAM Alicante is the infrastructure that has attracted most interest, especially for innovative train-TRAM by their versatility and power have become one of the biggest attractions of the railway network of the Valencian Community, while the network of Metrovalencia is taken as reference by other countries for being the largest and most experienced in the region.

The TRAM Alicante

The TRAM de Alicante recorded last year fourteen visits to know your model tram and the train-TRAM, the latter a mixed model between train and tram pioneer in Spain for both competitive and safe travel for urban and intercity buses.

Representatives of the German Jenaer Nahverkehr GmbH, operator of Northem British Rail, the government of the region of South Holland in the Netherlands and Yafe Nof Israeli company, as well as the technical director of the Berlin Metro or specialized journalist Argentina magazine “Rails”, Walter Rojas, who is also director of a major rail consultancy in the country, visited Alicante to know the model of FGV.

FGV also received a delegation from the German city of Gera interested in learning about trams both Valencia and Alicante network. The heads of the municipal company that manages both the bus network of trams in the city as the city intends to undertake the renovation of these compositions by more modern and accessible.

Also, one of the most important visits in Alicante was received by a delegation of participants of the XXIV General Assembly of the Latin American Association of Metros and Undergrounds (Alamys) held in Valencia decided to come to Alicante to visit this farm. The group was composed by several of the transport networks in Latin America in Argentina, Colombia and Brazil.

In the latter case, the visit served to charge transport in Rio de Janeiro see how the train-tram transport that are considering implementing in the Brazilian city and its metropolitan area between investments in infrastructure 2016 Olympic Games.

Also from Latin America came to Alicante Deputy Minister of Transport and Awards Costa Rica to see the potential of the Command Post of the resort of La Marina and take it as reference in the integration of railways and tramways in this country.

In October, were representatives of a delegation of experts of the Regional Development Group Partenalia who visited the TRAM to study, especially, the photovoltaic system installed on the roof of the workshops in El Campello. Partenalia is a European territorial development, consisting of intermediate-level administrations and councils, provinces or regions.

National visits

The TRAM has also received several visits of heads of national transport operators as the president of FEVE which led to the acquisition of four train-tram Vossloh the construction company and four trams for Leon, director or manager Metrobilbao, who came Alicante to know the railway network.

On the other hand, a delegation of technicians and managers Ferroviaris Serveis de Mallorca (SFM) went to Alicante to test-TRAM trains before they start to move models between Manacor and Arta similar, and another composed of representatives of the Concessionaire Murcia Tramway Interested in learning about plant and facilities of El Campello in which you carry out maintenance and repairs and tune-TRAM trains and trams.

Metrovalencia

As Metrovalencia, seven have been received visits FGV to know their rolling stock, facilities, tools, model management or new construction of Line 2.

Among all visits, highlights the nearly 300 representatives of ALAMYS who gathered in Valencia to celebrate the XXIV General Assembly of the Latin American Association of Metros and Suburban. Participants moved to Alameda station, which admired the singular architecture of Santiago Calatrava, and once shown interest Metrovalencia star station, went on Line 3 (Aeroport-Rafelbunyol) to the station Alboraya-Palmaret surface.

Also, another of the highlights was that of a government delegation of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, as in the case of TRAM, was interested in knowing different aspects related to the management of metro and tram services, and file extension projects which they intend to run in the metro network in Sao Paulo. Among other things the Latin American professionals traveled to the transfer station Marítim-Sawmill to know the unique characteristics of these facilities in which they can transfer between subway and tram.

Furthermore, in October of the participants in Light Rail X Conference of the International Union of Public Transport (UITP) and the Course of Business Managers of Transportation announces the agency also met and network facilities Metrovalencia.

Moreover, the German company Jenaer Nahverkehr GMBH, which provides services in the city of Gera (Germany), was interested in the operation of subway and railway short distance between Alicante and Valencia.

In the academic section, forty-one students of the Institute of Transportation Diepenbeek (Belgium), traveled to Valencia in order to know the characteristics of the transmission of Valencia, as well as the projects developed by the Department of Infrastructure and Transport.

Finally, a group of fifteen Americans belonging to the club “Tramway”, founded in the sixties in Ohio (USA) and composed of railway enthusiasts and former workers of the company’s Providence & Worcester Massachusetts, also visited Valencia’s metro network.