Díaz Ayuso announces the incorporation of Metro de Madrid into the logistics industry with the Última Milla (Last Mile) project, which enables goods to be transported on underground trains
The regional president has advanced this initiative today in the State of the Region Debate. The goal is to reduce pollution and traffic congestion in large cities such as the Spanish capital by avoiding the surface movement of 5,000 parcels per day. This pilot measure will begin in the next few days on MetroSur and will be extended to line 3 from the last quarter of the year. Special trains will be used and will run at times that do not affect the service for users
Today, the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, announced the incorporation of Metro de Madrid into the logistics industry with Última Milla (Last Mile), which will enable underground trains to transport goods. During her speech at the State of the Region Debate, the head of the regional executive explained that this pilot project is part of the M4G initiative, which aims to reduce pollution, avoiding the surface movement of 5,000 parcels a day, and the traffic congestion associated with delivery vans.
This action, undertaken in collaboration with the courier company GLS Spain, will begin operating in the next few days on MetroSur's Line 12 and will last for an estimated three months. In order not to interfere with the trips of underground users, a specific train will be launched to transport the shipments, some 700 a day, between 7 pm and 8 pm.
The stations through which this train will pass collecting goods will be those of Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Alcorcón Central, Hospital Severo Ochoa and El Bercial, with a maximum stop time of no more than three minutes. Packages will be guarded by Metro de Madrid employees at all times. Subsequently, the aforementioned company will take possession of them and deliver them to the addressees.
In the next quarter, a second test phase will begin, together with the distribution company CITYlogin, which will be developed at Embajadores station on Line 3. The average volume of parcels will be around 400 per day, so that when added to the 700 parcels, a total of more than a thousand will be distributed.
In this case, the goods, coming from peripheral areas of Madrid, will be transported to the Spanish capital's low emission zone (LEZ) in the underground. In the early hours of the morning, before the start of the service to the user, a fast train without passengers will take the freight to Embajadores. The company will then collect the cargo and distribute it to customers using environmentally friendly means of transport, such as bicycles or delivery persons on foot with trolleys.
BOOSTING THE NEW LOGISTICS AGENCY
In line with this project, the regional government is working on the creation of the future Logistics Agency of the Community of Madrid, which was created with the aim of making the region a benchmark in the distribution industry in the whole of southern Europe.
The new entity, planned for 2025, will adopt a public-private partnership format using the experience and know-how of the existing Coslada Transport Centre, which has led a significant part of the work in this field at regional level for the last 25 years.
