Page 22 - Vía Libre Special - 25 Years of Spanish High Speed Rail

SPECIAL

years of Spanish high speed rail

ADIF
Antequera-Santa Ana Station.

line and the various conventional gauge lines.
On December 23, 2007 the line reached its Key features of the
destination, the new Vialia María Zambrano station infrastructure
in Malaga, a major railway and leisure complex
located in the city centre, on the same site as the - Length: 155.3 km.
old station. - Gauge: Standard .
In total the line consists of 155.3 kilometres - Maximum speed: 350 km/h.
of double track used solely for passenger traffic,
with a maximum design speed of 350 kilometres - Electrification: 25 kV/AC.
an hour. The branch line to Malaga starts at the - Signalling: ERTMS with LZB and ASFA backup
junction on the Madrid–Seville line at Almodóvar systems.
del Rio (Cordoba). The layout, which takes 25 - Mobile radio telecommunications: GSM–R.
kilometres off the previous distance by rail
between the two Andalusian provincial capitals, - Viaducts: 19. Total length: 11 kilometres.
allows direct, non-stop AVE trains between Madrid - Tunnels: 8. Total length: 25 kilometres.
and Malaga to cover the distance in two and a half - Passenger stations: 4. Cordoba, Puente Genil–
hours. Herrera, Antequera–Santa Ana and Malaga-
In 2012, just five years after its entry into María Zambrano.
service, over 70% of passengers using public
transport services starting from or finishing at the - Gauge changers: One, at Antequera.
Costa del Sol used the train.

Madrid–Segovia–Valladolid line

Opened on December 22, 2007, this line was the the previous layout. Journey times between the two
first section of the north and northwest high speed cities shrank from 2 hours 25 minutes to just under
corridors to enter into operation. Rail services an hour, while between Madrid and Segovia the time
between Madrid and the autonomous regions of was cut from 1 hour 45 minutes to half an hour. To
Castile and Leon, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and these improvements we need to add the journey
the Basque Country all use this line, so its entry into time savings achieved in connections with a large
service meant a significant reduction in distances number of cities in northern and central Spain.
and journey times over a large area of Spain. Leaving from Madrid–Chamartín station, the
The line, over 180 kilometres in length, route first makes use of the corridor of the present
shortened the distance by rail between Madrid and day Madrid–Burgos line, parallel to the M–607 road,
Valladolid by 68.5 kilometres, a 28% reduction over until it reaches the town of Tres Cantos. At this point

22 Vía Libre • Special 25th Anniversary of the AVE Edition