Page 30 - Vía Libre Special - 25 Years of Spanish High Speed Rail

SPECIAL

years of Spanish high speed rail

For construction purposes the line has
been divided into two major sections: Valladolid- Key features of the
Venta de Baños, 41.50 kilometres long, and infrastructure
Palencia-Leon, 127.50 kilometres in length. These
are connected at the Venta de Baños junction, - Length: 169 km.
which handles all traffic between Valladolid, - Gauge: Standard.
Palencia and Burgos. - Maximum speed: 350 km/h.
The line has three gauge changers, one
at Villamuriel (south of Palencia) and two in the - Electrification: 2 x 25 kV /AC.
vicinity of Leon Station which enable trains to - Signalling systems: ASFA and ERTMS
continue on to Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia - Telecommunications: GSMR.
on Iberian gauge, thereby improving railway
connectivity. - Viaducts: 40. Total length: 7.473 m.
The new line reduces journey times between - Tunnels: 2. 2 Total length: 2.498 m.
Madrid and Leon to a little over two hours (2 - Pergola bridges: 10. Total length: 1348.8 m.
hours and 6 minutes to be precise), compared to
the previous 2 hours and 50 minutes, a reduction - Stations: 4. Valladolid, Venta de Baños, Palencia,
in journey times that extends to all lines between and Leon.
Madrid, Castile and Leon, Asturias and Cantabria. - Gauge changers: Three, at Villamuriel de
This improvement combines with the improvement Cerrato (Palencia), and two in Leon (Vilecha and
resulting from the entry into service of the León Clasificación).
Madrid-Valladolid section; previously it took four
hours to travel from Madrid to Leon before the
arrival high speed rail.

Gauge changing facilities

HENDAYA
IRÚN
VILECHA
CLASIFICACIÓN (LEÓN) PORTBOU
(LEÓN)
HUESCA
VILLAMURIEL
ZARAGOZA
ZAMORA VALDESTILLAS
PLASENCIA
MEDINA AV. DE JALÓN

CHAMARTÍN
ATOCHA

VALENCIA

ALBACETE

ALCOLEA
Talgo type gauge changer
MAJARABIQUE CAF type gauge changer
ANTEQUERA Axle changer
Out of service gauge changer

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