Ombudsman seeks environmental impact study of high-speed train in Barcelona

The European Union's ombudsman asked the European Investment Bank Tuesday to do an environmental impact study of a planned high-speed rail line through Barcelona — a project benefiting from €2.5 billion (US$4 billion) of EIB funding, a quarter of its total costs. Ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros said a complaint by a Barcelona resident that Spain had not done such a study was valid. He said the bank must show an environmental impact study is carried out before granting funds to a project of its size, and added it had not done so. The line through Barcelona is part of a 744-kilometer (462-mile) high-speed railway linking Madrid and the French border. The ombudsman did not name the Barcelona resident who complained that the rail link through the Spanish city may cause damage to public buildings there such as the Sagrada... [read full story]