Economic and environmental impact of the new Mediterranean Rail Corridor in Andalusia: A dynamic CGE approach

Transport is one the most important sectors in the economy, but it also implies some cost, as it is responsible for an important amount of gas emissions, which favours the greenhouse effect (GHE) and climate change. In Spain, the sector of transport represents the 25% of total greenhouse sources. From this perspective, the impact of transport is important not only from an economic perspective but also in terms of its environmental impact. The transport of cargo is also responsible for an important amount of these emissions, as it represents more than 30% of all modes of transport's GHG emissions. The objective of this paper is to apprise the long-term environmental and economic impact in Andalusia of the new rail infrastructure known as Mediterranean Corridor. It will absorb an important part of the transport of cargo by road from the Port of Algeciras, which is one of the most important in Spain and an important node of this rail corridor. The effect is simulated through the use of a Computational General Equilibrium (CGE) model with a dynamic component, the vector of GHG emissions and calibrated with the Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) of 2013 of Andalusia with the modes of transport disaggregated. The results show how positive is the economic impact of this infrastructure, but also how environmental benefits outweigh economic ones, arising the need of assessing also environmental impacts and not only the economic ones.