TRAIN STRAIN OUR VIEW

IT seems quite incredible that with the Costa del Sol being such a major tourist attraction there is no way to travel by train from Fuengirola to anywhere along the western coast.

As Spain takes advantage of so much European Funding and is expected to persuade travellers to move out of their cars and use public transport as much as possible there is just no way of catching a train.

There are more and more relatively low cost connections from Malaga City to Cordoba, Madrid and Sevilla, as well as Granada, but apart from a short route to Velez­Malaga nothing east to Axarquia and of course nothing past Fuengirola heading west.

For decades there have been calls to at least extend the suburban rail link to Marbella, if not Estepona, but it seems unlikely that this will ever happen.

The problems of course are three­fold, firstly the cost, secondly the need to take over huge amounts of land currently in private hands and thirdly the time it would take to complete such an operation.

Good news for taxi drivers, the ubiquitous private hire companies and car rentals, but this is not going to help reduce pollution or the number of vehicles currently clogging up the main roads and making parking an often impossible task made worse by those who park on pavements or double park.

There are of course bus services, but they can be quite a slog for even the most hardened holidaymaker, often laden down with baggage and maybe a baby carriage and young child.

The same need exists across much of the nation but it’s probably too late to do anything about it.

BUSINESS EXTRA Linda Hall

Sun spots

UNIVERSITIES and tech companies will receive £4.3 million (€5 million) in funding from the government to develop spacebased solar power, which collects energy from the sun using satellite­mounted panels and beams it to Earth. The scheme has huge potential, Energy Security Secretary, Grant Shapps, said.

Shanghai deal

GRIFOLS, Catalonia ­ based multinational pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturer, is taking steps to reduce its debt with a corporate manoeuvre within the Chinese company, Shanghai RAAS. If the transaction goes ahead, Grifols will receive $1.5 billion (€1.4 billion) while remaining ‘a significant’ Shanghai RAAS shareholder.

Shell payout

SHELL intends to boost its dividends by 15 per cent as part of the company’s plans to hand back more cash to its shareholders under its new chief executive Wael Sawan. Shell has told investors that the dividend increase would become effective from the second quarter of its financial year.

No vote

PORTUGUESE company Western Gate, with a 2.18 per cent stake in the Dia supermarket chain, will vote against Benjamin Babcock as a major shareholder­director representing LetterOne, which owns 77 per cent of the company. Minority shareholders should have more weight on Dia’s board, Western Gate said.

Not the same

FREETRADE, the investment app, has slashed its pre­money valuation by 65 per cent while blaming current conditions and a “different market environment.” Freetrade’s valuation rose to £650 million (€760 million) during the pandemic, but the company announced that it has since fallen to £225 million (€263 million).

THE UK economy recovered from the impact of strikes and returned to growth in April. Official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) registered a 0.2 per cent upturn owing to increased car sales and more spending in shops, bars and restaurants.

Growth over the first quarter increased by 0.1 per cent.

“Gross domestic product (GDP) bounced back after a weak March,” announced Darren Morgan, ONS’ director of Economic Statistics.

Bars and pubs had a comparatively strong April while car sales rebounded. Education partially recovered from the effect of the previ­