Giving Focus: Muro's little train

The little tourist train in Playa de Muro that does a round trip from the resort's end (more or less) at Alcúdia Pins to Las Gaviotas on the border with Alcúdia is not well liked by everyone; motorists mainly, and especially when the train takes the narrow English bridge over the canal (s'Obert) that connects Albufera and the sea. Slow-moving, it makes the rest of the traffic move slowly.

There is a further reason why it might not be as liked as it was; it is making for more of a noise than it used to. It hasn't suddenly become driven by steam; its noise is not the sound of its movement, it is the sound of its bell and its whistle. The bell is being rung almost constantly, the whistle is being blown far more often has been the case in the past. I imagine, as this is how things work here, that rather than someone saying would you mind not ringing the bell so much a visit to the police will be undertaken - a denuncia for the making of.

The inability of the local Mallorcan to deal with any matter however mildly bothersome by means other than the sneaky dobbing-in of the denuncia is a subject worthy of its own article; its own book in fact. Instead, I shall concentrate on the little train.

They're obviously wanting to make more of a business out of the train than has been the case. In fact I know they are, because I've spoken to them. The bell being rung constantly is all part of the train's business strategy, the more noise it makes, the more attention it gets. The more attention, the more passengers. And it seems as though it might be working.

Though as a motorist, I am one of those who gets trapped behind the little train, I am all in favour of little tourist trains. They add to a sensation of tourism, as if this were really necessary, kids like them, they're a pleasant way to get around and they're pretty good for advertisers. Can Picafort has its own little train, Alcúdia used to have one (and I seem to recall that a fairly nonsensical claim that it posed unfair competition to other transport providers was at the root of its being done way with), while Cala d'Or can boast the first little train to run off solar energy in Spain.

Playa de Muro's little train does, in a sense, act in a wider capacity than being merely a means of ferrying tourists around. It is a unifying symbol of the resort. It literally unifies a sprawling coastal, but it unifies it also in giving the resort something of a focal point, even if it is a focal point which moves around.

Playa de Muro's greatest single drawback is that it has no centre, no part of it to which people naturally gravitate. There is a square in front of the municipal building, but this is not a square enclosed by bars. It's a square and that's all it is. The train, though, and thanks to the greater initiative being shown by its operators this year and thanks also to positive response from certain businesses, gives the possibility of adding focus, and in adding a specific stop in front of the resort's only obvious attraction - the Fun Park/Maze - it creates a sort of focus, and one that isn't moving around.

Because Playa de Muro has no centre, it is easy to understand why it is just considered to be either a part of Alcúdia or merely an adjunct. Without a real focus, it doesn't represent anything. And without this focus, it can lose tourists in the evenings. There has to be more than some restaurants to keep people in-resort, especially when neighbouring Alcúdia has different focal points - the bustling tourism centre around Bellevue and Magic, the port and the old town.

If the little train can provide the impulse to add focus, then it will be doing an even better job than it does by giving tourists a pleasant ride. Mind you, its bell can be a bit of a pain.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.