The Railway That Never Was: Cala Ratjada

One hundred years ago, on 23 July, 1914, one Rafel Blanes Tolosa presented a plan for a railway line between Manacor and Artà. Over a year later, on 8 September, 1915, "La Gaceta de Madrid", a newspaper which was to eventually become (along with other major cities' "gacetas") the "Boletín Oficial del Estado", announced the bidding for the line. On 12 November that year, the result of the bidding process became known. The concession was awarded to the company S.A. Ferrocarriles de Mallorca. Blanes Tolosa was a director.

Roughly half of the finance came from the Banco de Crédito Balear in the form of a two million pesetas loan (Blanes Tolosa was also a director of the bank.). Work on the line took until 1921. There was, however, one part of the line that was missing and so one municipality that wasn't included in the project. It should have been, but it wasn't. The line was meant to have gone on to Cala Ratjada in Capdepera. It didn't and it never did.

Connecting the railway to the port would have been important, or so you might have thought. Yet, it is a curiosity of Mallorca's railway building that connections with the coast have been all but non-existent.

There was once a line from Palma's port to the Plaça d'Espanya. It closed in 1965. There was a project for a line from Palma to the port in Andratx. It was to have gone to Calvia (village) and then on to Andratx and would have involved the building of two tunnels. The extension to Alcúdia, still spoken about, was scrapped when the Civil War intervened, but the rail line there was considered very much earlier. So much so in fact that there was a ceremony in 1912 for the laying of the first stones of what was meant to have become a station in Pollensa on its route to Alcúdia from Inca. There would have been branch lines to both Puerto Pollensa and Puerto Alcúdia. Quite a few years later, there was another scheme, one which would have seen a railway connect with the seaplanes base in Puerto Pollensa. Elsewhere on the island, there was a project to take a line to Porto Cristo. None of them of course were realised.

Port Sóller is the only place that nowadays has a coastal connection, and even that isn't of course a train as such. Apart from the old station in Palma's port and one also in Arenal on the old line that went to Llucmajor and on to Santanyí, the island's coastline has been totally untouched by rail transport.

There are a number of theories as to why railways didn't extend to the coasts. One is that coastal land was relatively worthless and unpopulated. But when there were ports, and quite successful ones like Cala Ratjada's, this explanation doesn't really add up. A second one has to do with the traditional fear of the coast because of the threat of piracy. By the twentieth century, however, although there might have been the odd pirate knocking around, illegal activity was of a different nature, i.e. smuggling. Again, the explanation isn't strong. A third is financial and logistical, but when promoters often also had associations with banks, the money wasn't necessarily a problem, while the experience of the Sóller train, which required the engineering achievement of the tunnel, demonstrated that obstacles could be overcome.

There is a fourth theory, and it is specific to Cala Ratjada. It has to do with rivalries between Artà and Capdepera and between wealthy landowners. Blanes Tolosa was a wealthy man. He owned a large chunk of Artà. But though he had some aristocratic blood, he wasn't of the higher order of Mallorcan nobility. Capdepera, on other hand, was largely owned by this higher order, and it was one that wanted nothing to do with anything that smacked of the new entrepreneurial bourgeoisie and some lower-order upstart from the next town.

Maybe this was the reason why the railway line never reached Cala Ratjada. Whatever the reason, the line was never built and though it was considered many years later during the time that the Manacor-Artà line existed (the line closed in 1977), nothing came of it. When the railway line was due to have been reopened under the scheme envisaged by the Antich regional government of 2007-2011, Cala Ratjada was again spoken of. But the line of course hasn't been reopened, and it won't be. An appalling waste of money went into a project which had to be abandoned because there wasn't any more money, so the eastern part of Mallorca was denied a new railway and the possibility that it might go as far as Cala Ratjada. It was another familiar story, some will argue. It is the eastern part of Mallorca which is always neglected.

* Photo of train at Artà station from www.baleareslive.com

MALLORCA TODAY - Manacor-Artà train not ready till end of 2012

The railway between Manacor and Artà, a line that used to exist and which is being redeveloped, was due to be finished by September this year at the latest. But it will now not be finished until the end of next year and could indeed take longer. The problem is one of financing.

Especially For You

With no small amount of predictability, Alcúdia town hall has not exactly greeted the no-to-Es-Foguero decision with great enthusiasm, but at least it does appear to accept the decision as the emphasis now seems to be to find a way of locating the terminal anywhere that isn't behind the auditorium. It needs to be stressed that all that has actually been decided regarding the route of the train is that it will follow the so-called northern "corridor" and not the southern.

We are still no nearer to knowing the exact location. The area by both roundabouts - Horse and Magic - are in the town hall's sights, but the government is pretty much excluding them without any further consideration because of the wetlands. Doubtless there is some environmental significance, which is lost on me, but these wetlands are not things of some wonder as is the case with Albufera; they are basically also wasteland and things of a complete lack of wonder. A spurious environmental objection should be discounted; dig them up and shove the bloody railway station on them. From the point of view of the landscape, this would be an improvement; the area around the Horse and Magic roundabouts that isn't already built on is an eyesore, and the fact is that much of it has been built on - the swimming-pool, the sports centre, etc, these were all on what were once wetlands, so why should there be any sentiment stopping the railway line? Environmental group GOB, who see the no-to-Es-Foguero decision as a result, would presumably object to more wetlands becoming dry, but for once the politicos should show some independence and not be driven by making common cause with the enviros for some potential political gain.


Wetlands and wetness of different sorts - the sea and water sports. There are in Spain a number of "estaciones náuticas" which best translate as water-sport centres. These cover all manner of things that happen on water and very often things that don't, all in the name of sport and activities. While there are "estaciones" on the mainland and also elsewhere in the Balearics, there is not one in Mallorca, but this may be about to change as Alcúdia could become one such and a part of the association of water sport centres. There are to be meetings this coming week about all this. What actually it would all mean, I don't quite know, which is why I have been trying to find out, and hopefully the chap who deals with the media (if I can call myself the media, and I think I probably can) and is currently away on business will be kind enough to get in touch. Meantime, you can see something about these centres here - http://www.estacionesnauticas.info.


You may recall that Alcúdia town hall put together a chill-out CD with which to enchant visitors at its stand at the Fitur trade fair in Madrid. I happened to notice a copy of this knocking around town hall HQ the other day with a post-it note on the box with five euros written on it. Probably they produced far too many and are now hoping to flog them off through the season. Someone, from the town hall, said to me that it wasn't much good, and so impressed by what was included on the CD was I, that I have completely forgotten. Anyway, if you can't get it through official town hall channels, I daresay a pirated copy or several will have fallen into the clutches of the luckies come April, and you'll be able to get a fake one at a knockdown price of, say, five euros.


And today of course is Valentine's Day, and I should just mention that among the bars offering an event in celebration will be Vamps with a karaoke Valentine and some grand, computer-generated bingo do. But this raises the question as to what would be karaoke Valentine favourites, and my guess would be "Saving All My Love For You" (Whitney) and as a duet - Kylie and Jason's peerless "Especially For You", which is today's title. Incidentally, the Spanish do Valentine's, though it should be noted that the Catalans have another day - Sant Jordi (George) when they give each other a rose or a book.

And while on bars and things that could help attract the masses at this time of difficulty, I note that the Indians are to produce a soft drink based on cow's urine, which should be rather less than gnat's or indeed cow's piss I should have thought if it were a cocktail with Red Bull.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - David Bowie. It was not one of his best, but from the album came something that was ok - "Golden Years" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd2clb5T8JA). Today's title - already mentioned; a Valentine's special.

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Shape Of Things

The towns of Alcúdia and Pollensa are two of Mallorca's most extraordinary bequeathals. Their histories are a conjoint immensity of pre-Christendom, occupation, imported cultures, war, religion and architecture. These are the histories that reside within the city walls and in the ruins of Pollentia in Alcúdia and about the Plaça Major, up the Calvari steps and to the Roman bridge of Pollensa. Here is the architectural heritage of an old Mallorca. And then there is the rest.

Drive along the road from the motorway and glance to your left as you pass Pollensa, and you might well be inclined to just carry on. The impression is, if not of brutalism, then of a modernist fudge of non-description. Locally, one refers to the "pueblos" (small towns). Yet in reality Alcúdia and Pollensa are old and new towns, the latter nailed on as minor urban sprawls of unintelligent design. The idea that a sympathetic contemporary architecture might have mimicked the town-house style of the hearts of the towns was lost in planning offices stripped of foresight and amenable to a developer's lack of heart. The old centre of Alcúdia is protected by law as a heritage site; the surrounds were and are unprotected against an architectural dog's breakfast. Even something as "cultural" as Alcúdia's Auditorium looks like it has been transported, brick by glass facia, from a Robbins university campus lecture theatre in England; new, in the sense that the sixties might be defined as new, and utilitarian in both design and its lack of sympathy. It is not just Alcúdia and Pollensa. Sa Pobla, Santa Margalida, Muro all suffer in varying degrees; Muro's outer reaches, for example, could best be described as dreary, though some might spin this as light-industry chic. I'm not sure how one would describe them at worst.

There is not the same competition between the new and the old in the two towns' resorts, but it hasn't prevented them from being hotch-potched according to the latest whim, mainly of apartment block construction. Glass, less glass; white, less white; colour, less colour; however it is decreed by current trend, the effect is uniform in its very lack of uniformity - an absence of an overarching sense of purpose in terms of there being some symmetry to the towns' appearances. The ports of Alcúdia and Pollensa are the victims perhaps of their success and of their continuity. By contrast, Can Picafort, largely built from scratch over the past five decades, has a certain consistency and regulation, certainly in the residential areas of Son Bauló and the Avenida Santa Eulalia. In Son Bauló, there has been some success in marrying tourist and residential real estate with a degree of harmony; in the avenida, the two Viva complexes add grace to rather than detract from a wide-streeted elegance. Can Pic is a kind of Mallorcan Singapore: out with the old, in with the new, and applied with a degree of autocracy.

The ever-onward development of the ports, demonstrated by the various apartment sites in a state of permanent non-completion that may yet see them completed, has made the ports Lego architectural irregularity. One shape here, one shape there. It is only the old towns, the real old towns, that have the satisfaction of order.


And, in the case of Alcúdia, there is another shape that looms - that of the train. Where will it go? Will it go? The other evening, there was a meeting of local people to discuss the proposals for the siting of the line and the terminal. The advantages of the train coming to Alcúdia should be obvious, but there are those who are opposed to it, wherever it might end up. And then there are those opposed to specific sitings. You can, for example, see a "no-to-the-train" sign along the road from the roundabout as you enter Alcúdia going towards the roundabout for Puerto Pollensa. Anywhere but in the backyard of my finca, or right through my finca. Despite the sense of a terminal somewhere close to the centre of population, i.e. towards the back of the lovely auditorium, there is a lack of sense in respect of the changes to the landscape across the finca areas and their expropriation, to say nothing of the links to the proposed tram routes. Francesc Antich wanted an age of the train. It could be he will get an age. An age of debate with potentially no end.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Martika, "Toy Soldiers" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpJy46o_7b0). Today's title - '60s greats.

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Long Train Running

The age of the train* is a question of the age of the terrain. Which bit of land to build on? It is the age of the terrain in respect of the proposed extension of the line from Sa Pobla to Alcúdia. When the decision was taken to site the line alongside the main road from Sa Pobla, the local town halls went into full aggrieved mode. The alternative route, favoured by Alcúdia and Muro town halls, would see a terminal sited by the industrial estate next to Albufera. Muro offered the somewhat spurious argument that such a location would be better for the coastal area. Alcúdia now seems to be supporting this, mayor Ferrer arguing that the number of tourists should be taken into account and not just the proximity of local residents, which is part of the reasoning behind the route that was decided upon. The central department (of "mobility") that has the final say states that the proposed route has a significantly greater proportion of the population within a hundred metres of its terminal area than does the alternative. This sounds like an impressive bit of population statistical justification, but neither this nor the number of tourists should be the determining factor. Wherever a terminal is sited, passengers, be they local residents or tourists, would have to get to it; that's the nature of rail terminals anywhere. The siting of the terminal under the favoured option has, as far as I am aware never been announced, though an assumption is that it would be by the Horse Roundabout. The alternative terminal, at what is the Es Foguero ruin, would also not be in someone's backyard; these things never are. No one would want a terminal in that yard anyway. Either location would make sense from that point of view.

One aspect that does not seem to be mentioned is that the Es Foguero option would be next to the new industrial estate. I don't know what plans are in store for the industrial estate, but it does not have to be something filled with industrial units only. The estates in Palma, such as Son Castelló, have shops as well. Has anyone thought that perhaps the industrial estate could be developed as part industrial and part quasi Festival Park? Stick a rail terminal next to it, and potentially you have a well-served-by-public-transport centre of business, entertainment and shopping, though where the latter is concerned doubtless the shopowners of the town and port would be up in arms. Whether though Alcúdia could sustain such a development is another question, but the improved infrastructure in terms of the road and eventually the railway might give pause for thought that it could. There is, however, the ruin of Es Foguero as a testament to the folly of over-grandiose ideas; the sheer size of the place meant it was not sustainable, which is why it became a ruin.

As the town halls are at loggerheads with the mobility department as to the siting, there is now a third option, which would be to take the line behind the mountain at the back of Bellevue rather than continue to, say, the Horse Roundabout. The Es Foguero site would be the terminal under this option. This all has the makings of an endless and never-solved saga. Our old chums in the enviro lobby, the pressure group GOB, are having their penn'orth as well, not wanting Albufera to be impacted upon. In Sa Pobla one has the distinct impression that the town hall would rather the whole project was dropped, which of course it still might be if Madrid reneges on promises for funding. Alcúdia's mayor Ferrer says that he will not bow to "ultimatums" given by the centre. What he's really cheesed off about is that Alcúdia town hall was not closely consulted when the decision for the route was taken. He may be justified; there again maybe he's just throwing his toy train out of the pram. This still has a long way to go; a long train running or perhaps not.

* The age of the train was the motto used by incoming Balearic President Francesc Antich when he won the elections last year; rail transport was his "big idea".


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Grover Washington - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0OQyG_h98o. Today's title - which American band?
Incidentally the last time I did a piece about the rail extension (26 June: "Came Down The Track And She Blew"), the remarkable Dimple Diamond was introduced to his now ever-growing army of fans. His "Runaway Train" now stands at 560 plus visits on youtube - a leap of getting on for 100% since it was first mentioned here.

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You've Got A Smiling Face

And ever more on the train extension. It would appear that not everyone is happy with the planned route (alongside the road to Alcúdia from the motorway); that not everyone includes the mayors of Alcúdia and Muro. Alcúdia's Miquel Ferrer is complaining about a lack of consultation, and Muro's Jaume Perelló reckons that the other route (the one that would terminate at the Es Foguero "ruin") would be the better option. Well, as this other route would mean the terminal being sited close to the Muro boundary, I suppose one can sense a degree of self-interest. However, maybe he has a point when he says that such a terminal would be closer to the coast and also to the Muro hospital. Hmm, well, not sure it's that much of a point to be honest, but what about the new industrial estate? That would be right next to the other route's terminal; a stronger point I would have thought. Of course, some are happy about the decision. Step forward our old mates GOB, the environmental lobby group, who one might have imagined wouldn't have wanted anything that came within the sound of a train whistle of Albufera.

This has all the makings of something that will run and run, and run and run - for 15 long years probably like the time it took to agree on the industrial estate - and run and run like the runaway train, and talking of which don't forget the marvel that is Dimple Diamond (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84DmeutIAr4).


But another day, and another strike in the offing. This has been a fabulous year for industrial relations locally. It gets little better than the teachers and the police striking or working to rule. Oh yes it does if you happen to be flying in for your hols. Baggage handlers. Yep, they're downing the luggage and leaving the carousels sadly revolving with nothing bar the battered and unclaimed suitcase that should have gone to Alicante. Mind you, this has and is only scheduled to take place between the hours of 13:30 and 15:30 when they can go off and have a nice menu of the day. The forums are consoling themselves with the fact that a couple of hours wait is nothing to worry about as it takes that long for baggage to come through anyway (which it doesn't), but those seeking this solace should bear in mind that it also works (or rather doesn't work when on strike) in the outgoing direction, i.e. baggage doesn't get loaded onto outbound flights. So, Mr Smug coming-on-holiday tourist, watch out if you're only here for a week as they're planning a repeat next weekend, and for the whole of Saturday, not just the lunch break. And let's add to this glorious summer of strikes the train workers and possibly hotel workers. Wonderful stuff.


Meanwhile, celebration time and photo opportunity moment for Pollensa worthies yesterday. Some 40 years after it was first planned and six years after the first stage of the road was built, the new road that bypasses Puerto Pollensa was officially opened. Oh joy. The most recently built bit, from the coast road to link up with the roundabout by Caprabo (Eroski), is now complete, there being a roundabout on the coast road that takes you either along the bypass through Gotmar and Pinaret to join up with the bypass to Formentor or further along the old coast road. Excellent, especially if the enviros get their way and close the whole coast road, thus making the whole exercise a complete waste of time.


QUIZ
Chain - Michael Brecker who was part of The Brecker Brothers. Brecker's final public performance was with which jazz pianist? Clue: "I Thought It Was You". Yesterday's title - U2, "Desire" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bjNHzU81qY). Today's title - in honour of the baggage handlers' strike, what had this smiling face and flew a baby away?

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The Hissing Of Summer Lawns

More on the projected railway to Alcúdia. The Balearic Government seems not - as yet - to have acted on my suggestion to co-opt Sirs Branson and Savile (18 July: How’s About That Then?), but nevertheless it’s full steam ahead. Or should that be full electric ahead? Truth is it’s neither. Though the train project is one of the “big things” of the new government, it is highly questionable whether anything will be done within the lifetime of this government. Studies are being talked about; there is a problem in that plans for the island never envisaged this form of rail development; urbanisations and industrial estates have been put up as artifical barriers.

Thinking about any extension from Sa Pobla, the only route that comes to my mind would be one that circles Sa Pobla, and then follows the road to the Pollensa roundabout and then the new road to Alcúdia. Where it would go then, I’m not sure, but perhaps it could cut across and end up somewhere near the Auditorium. But not without a lot of difficulty. As the Ultima Hora points out, any project is not a “camino de rosas”. Maybe it could carry on alongside the road to the Horse roundabout with a terminal there.

There again, I’m not a civil engineer, so what the heck do I know. Anyway, in addition to the train, there is some idea of there being a linked tram service to the port, which could then also go onto Playa de Muro and Can Picafort. And where, pray, would that go? Still, it’s all very interesting but chances of it happening must be remote.

An extra issue is that it can take forever to get agreement. The Alcúdia industrial park was fifteen years in the offing, so has been the plan to upgrade La Gola in Pollensa to a form of inland marine park. That now finally has the green light, but much of the delay for projects here stems from the regular shifts of government, locally and nationally. So, as for the railway, don’t hold your breath as you may be waiting a long time for a train.

And while on water in Pollensa, there is meant to be a crackdown on excessive domestic use of water. Pollensa does have problems with water, though I wonder whether owners of lush gardens will feel inclined to turn the hoses and sprinklers off.

Yesterday’s Guardia presence on Playa de Muro may have had more to do with a drowning, I’m sorry to have to say.

Better news. The annual Alcúdia Jazz festival is about to get under way (look for info on the WHAT’S ON BLOG). The first gig is on 31 August at the Biblioteca Can Torró with the singer Esther Bosch and the Tià Cardell Group who offer a form of jazz with pop-rock crossover. Not as international as the Sa Pobla Jazz Festival, the programme this year does though include the Boston-based Human Feel who will play the last gig on 29 September. Another act is Pedro Iturralde, one of the prime movers of jazz flamenco. For those who think flamenco can be either ultra-miserable or a lot of fast guitars, clapping, and stamping of feet, the jazz version is far more interesting and often more melodic.


QUIZ
Yesterday - Hedgehoppers Anonymous. Water sprinklers, jazz, it must be today’s title. The album was not by a jazz artist, but it had strong jazz overtones with The Crusaders being featured. Who was it?

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