Page 103 - Vía Libre Special - 25 Years of Spanish High Speed Rail
P. 103

Laying of rails and                                    brake van
                                                               sleepers in the vicinity
                                                               of one of the tunnels      OHL work on the
                                                                on the line through      construction of the
                                                                Brazatortas (March       Madrid-Seville high
               Birds’ eye view of the works at Brazatortas on the     1991).                speed line.
              high speed line. In the distance we can see a tunnel
                  with the track bed emerging from it (1990).















                                                              The Madrid-Seville
                                                             track was built with
                                                              60 kilo rails and
                                                              turnouts capable
                                                              of allowing trains
                                                              to change track at
                                                             160 km/h. Technical
                                                                installations
                                                              were distributed
                                                              strategically along
                                                             the line to allow for
                                                              overtaking. Track
                                                                laying (1990).



            pensioned  off  the  historic  stations  of  San                                         View of a
            Bernardo and Plaza de Armas, with a new through                                        cutting in the
            tunnel  in  Iberian  gauge  towards  Cadiz  and  an                                     construction
            outer bypass to the north to route Iberian gauge                                       of the Madrid
            trains to Huelva. The layout was completed with                                        to Seville high
            a  short  branch  to  the  Isla  de  la  Cartuja  which                                  speed line
                                                                                                      (1990).
            provided service to Expo 92 while it was open.
                  Gauge changers were installed at Atocha,
            Majarabique  and  Cordoba  to  enable  variable
            gauge  Talgo  trains  to  continue  on  to  Malaga.
            The Madrid-Seville line was the first line to run
            at a voltage of 25,000 V AC under LZB signalling   started  in  1987  with  the  approval  of  the  first
            and communication systems.                        designs in October 1987.
                  Finally, in record time, the line entered into                                       A.R.
            service in April 1992, culminating a project that            Photos fRom the collection of ffe-VíA libRe





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