Under-Strait rail tunnel clears feasibility — but not in time for 2030

The long-discussed railway tunnel beneath the Strait of Gibraltar has passed a key feasibility study by Germany's Herrenknecht, which judges the project technically possible while confirming it cannot be ready for the 2030 World Cup.

The proposed alignment is a twin-bore rail tunnel of roughly 65 kilometres, with a submarine section of about 28 to 40 kilometres, linking Punta Paloma near Tarifa in Spain to Malabata near Tangier. Geology, rather than engineering, is the main obstacle, and a realistic operational window is now put at 2035 to 2040. Estimates on the Spanish side already exceed €8.5 billion.

A fixed Europe–Africa link would transform the cross-Strait movement of people and goods — the corridor at the heart of GMBA's work.