- The alternative that would connect Navarre with Ezkio-Mar would involve the drilling of a 22 kilometre tunnel inside Aralar, with a cost of 1.3 billion euros. However, the municipalities of the many towns where this link would pass, as well as the neighbors, have obstructed the permits to have to start the works.
In an interview with Radio Euskadi at the beginning of February, the Spanish Secretary of State for Mobility and Sustainable Transport, José Antonio Santano, reported that the possibility of "temporary land expropriations" was being studied in order to carry out the necessary geotechnical studies to study the connection between Navarre and Gipuzkoa of the High Speed Train (AVE).
In response, the popular platform Por la Trena Barranco y Araba has denounced in a statement that in recent days in the towns of Otxobi and Izurdiaga in Navarra, attempts have been made to carry out "unauthorized" land surveys for the AVE, which violate "the right of citizens to be informed and participate in decisions that affect their environment".
The popular platform recalls that the connection between Pamplona and San Sebastián via Vitoria-Gasteiz, despite a delay of twenty minutes in terms of time –compared to the connection via Ezkio-Itsas- would lead to the "modernization and adaptation of existing railway infrastructures": “It could be used for mixed traffic, freight and human traffic and high-speed long-distance service to meet all demand with a single rail platform.”In addition, he added that he would "respect the natural heritage".