Malta has submitted a proposal for a € 1.42bn monorail system as part of a list of projects officials hope will get funding under the new EU investment initiative launched last month.
The monorail project will require the construction of over-ground and underground lines running from north to south and west to east across Malta, intersecting at a key traffic junction.
It will also feed into existing over-ground public transport, with key platforms meeting with other transport modes. The government said the 79-km-long monorail will reduce traffic congestion, freeing up commuters’ time while reducing CO2 emissions on the islands.
Alfred Mifsud from the Maltese task force that drafted the proposals said: ‘Malta needs strong transport links with the rest of the [European] Union as well as efficient urban transport within its own borders.’
Mifsud said the monorail would ‘bring a cataclysmic change to the daily commute, making public transport the preferred means of urban transport, generating efficiency and economic growth as people will spend less time wasted in traffic congestions.’
Technical, socio-economic and financial feasibility studies are presently underway with the estimated completion date of June 2015. The target for completion of the first phase of construction is 2018.
Original author: Alexia
