The Government completes the renewal of all escalators at Palma Intermodal Station
A total of 10 new escalators have been installed at the Intermodal Station, replacing the original equipment for the first time since the station entered into service in 2007
The Government of the Balearic Islands has completed the renewal of all escalators at Palma Intermodal Station with the commissioning of the final two escalators at the main entrance. This represents the first comprehensive replacement of the station’s 10 escalators in almost 20 years, since the station was inaugurated in 2007.
This initiative forms part of the wider refurbishment project of Palma Intermodal Station, promoted by the Government over the past year to improve accessibility, safety and comfort for public transport users, with a total investment of €3.6 million under the “Islands in Transformation” infrastructure plan.
The Minister for Housing, Territory and Mobility of the Government of the Balearic Islands, José Luis Mateo, visited the Intermodal Station this Wednesday to mark the completion of the renewal of all the station’s escalators, accompanied by the Director General for Mobility, Lorena del Valle; the Managing Director of the Mallorca Transport Consortium (CTM), Lluïsa Serra; and the Managing Director of Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca (SFM), José Ramón Orta.
The installation of the new escalators forms part of the project to replace six escalators carried out by the Mallorca Transport Consortium — the four at the main entrance and the two providing access to the bus platforms — and completes the process that began last year with the replacement of the four escalators providing access to the train and metro platforms, undertaken by Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca.
Work to replace the four escalators at the main entrance and the two providing access to the bus platforms began in November. The first two entered into service at the end of February, while the remaining escalators were replaced in several phases, ensuring that one ascending and one descending escalator remained operational at all times in order to guarantee accessibility and minimise inconvenience to users.
The new escalators have been specifically designed to meet the high passenger demand at the station and incorporate advanced technology in terms of safety, digitalisation and energy efficiency. They include intelligent monitoring systems that allow potential incidents to be detected in advance and maintenance to be optimised, as well as automatic safety mechanisms and energy-saving modes that reduce electricity consumption and the carbon footprint.
The comprehensive refurbishment of the Intermodal Station also includes the installation of new public toilets, which are larger, more modern and located in an area with improved accessibility; the replacement of tactile paving to facilitate movement for people with visual impairments; the creation of new bicycle parking facilities with capacity for 72 bicycles to promote sustainable mobility and intermodality; and the transformation of the customer service office into a larger, more accessible and functional space.
Among the works already completed, in addition to the renewal of all escalators, new passenger information screens were installed throughout the station between the end of 2024 and 2025 to improve communication with users. Last summer, industrial fans were also installed in the TIB bus terminal to improve ventilation in the station’s bus bays.
More than 16 million passengers per year
The aim of the station refurbishment is to improve facilities that have seen a significant increase in demand since their opening, with passenger numbers almost tripling in just six years, rising from 5.8 million in 2019 to more than 16.5 million by the end of 2025.
As part of the “Islands in Transformation” infrastructure plan, the total investment of €3.6 million (excluding VAT) is mainly financed through resources derived from the insularity factor of the Special Regime of the Balearic Islands, together with European Next Generation funds under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The escalator replacement project represented an investment of €1.1 million (excluding VAT).
Through this series of improvements, the Government of the Balearic Islands reaffirms its commitment to enhancing interurban public transport infrastructure with the aim of guaranteeing a high-quality, accessible and safe service for all users.