tenerife south train project aena agreement advance

Tenerife’s Southern Train Project Clears Major Hurdle

Key Agreement Paves Way for Tenerife’s Southern Train

The Tenerife Island Council has smoothed the path to accelerate the project for the southern train, the most costly and crucial infrastructure the island envisages for improving medium and long-term mobility. A deal by the island’s governing team with Aena removes one of the main remaining bureaucratic hurdles for the southern railway line. The operator of Spanish airports has committed to modifying the plans for the complete overhaul of Tenerife South, covering both the terminal and exterior areas, in order to incorporate a train station.

Integrating the Railway with Tenerife South Airport

The president of the island corporation, Rosa Dávila, explained on Wednesday 8 April that the agreement reached with Aena not only allows for the integration of the train stop into the new Tenerife South Airport design but also speeds up procedures for the final approval of the environmental impact report. This is another of the pending steps needed to secure funding and begin deploying the new public transport line, a key piece of infrastructure to end the traffic jams on the Southern motorway (TF-1).

Project Timeline and Financial Backing

Dávila detailed, in the press conference following the Government Council meeting, that the Cabildo will sign the agreement with Aena “shortly”, now with the modified airport renovation project. This change will then be incorporated into the environmental impact assessment to obtain a definitive declaration, clearing the way for work to begin. The island government has a significant advantage: most of the construction projects for the train’s first phase are already completed.

The first railway line Tenerife will have will begin construction on the section from Adeje to San Isidro (in the municipality of Granadilla de Abona). The Councillor for Mobility, Eulalia García, clarified that until this phase is finished, the southern line will not be extended to Santa Cruz. The total cost is €2.5 billion. Once all phases are complete, the route will allow travel from the capital to the municipality of Adeje in just 39 minutes.

Securing Technical Expertise and Updated Plans

The Tenerife president announced another advance in the complex bureaucratic process to deploy the Adeje-Santa Cruz railway line. The island corporation, following the example of both the Canary Islands Government and the Gran Canaria Council for their train project, has entered the shareholding package of Ineco, a public company of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, to drive forward the southern railway. The goal of this financial operation is for the Tenerife Cabildo to receive “technical assistance” from Ineco.

Entry into this company, the aforementioned agreement reached with Aena—which only lacks the final signature—and the definitive approval of the environmental impact report—which Dávila clarified on Wednesday is “already updated”—represent a fundamental step forward for a project that aspires to become the third most used commuter rail network in Spain.

A Long-Awaited Project Nears Reality

In September 2024, the island’s Government Council tendered the update of the environmental impact study for the Southern Train project, which had expired. Its drafting cost €89,500. Seven months have passed since the previous step taken by the administrations to make the island’s first railway a reality.

On 4 September 2025, the Spanish Government signed the first protocol guaranteeing the co-financing of the Southern Train through the State’s General Budget. The state investment will be joined by contributions from the Canary Islands Government and the Tenerife Cabildo, although European funds will also be sought given the project’s high cost. This agreement reached by the State with the Canary Islands Government and the Tenerife Cabildo established the first roadmap for the construction of the Adeje-Santa Cruz railway line.

This protocol establishes that construction of the southern line will begin with the first phase between San Isidro and Costa Adeje. The idea is for the works to go out to tender between the end of 2027 and the beginning of 2028.

Updated Construction Schedule

More than 28 years after this alternative to island transport was first proposed, and following the new steps taken by the Cabildo, the schedule now stands as follows: once the agreement with Aena is signed and the environmental impact report is approved by the end of this year or early 2027, the island corporation calculates that the works will go out to tender between the end of 2027 and the beginning of 2028.

Why the Southern Line Takes Priority

The island government has prioritised the southern project, relegating the northern train, taking into account demographic and topographic criteria when quantifying the level of difficulty and priority. The south is the part of the island where the population is growing the most by far and which receives the most tourists. Furthermore, this infrastructure has a simpler route to build as it will require fewer compulsory purchases, the terrain is flatter, and there are fewer dispersed populations.

A Century-Old Ambition

In reality, the first official document establishing the need to build a train in Tenerife dates from much earlier. It is from 15 September 1909 and is signed by the then civil governor, a position equivalent to the current central government delegate in the Islands. In it, Joaquín Santos speaks of the public utility of a project to create a railway line from Santa Cruz, the capital, to Garachico, running through the northern municipalities.

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