Page 32 - Vía Libre Special - 25 Years of Spanish High Speed Rail

SPECIAL

years of Spanish high speed rail
Current network and future projects

A Coruña
San Sebastián
Bilbao
Santiago Pajares bypass
León Vitoria
Ourense Figueres
Vigo
Burgos Huesca Girona
Palencia Tardienta
Zaragoza Lleida
Valladolid
Zamora Barcelona
Segovia Camp de Tarragona

Madrid-Chamartín Guadalajara
Chamartín-Atocha tunnel
Madrid-Atocha
Cuenca
Plasencia
Toledo Requena
-Utiel
Cáceres Valencia
Badajoz Ciudad Real
Albacete
Villena
Puertollano
Alicante
Villanueva de Córdoba
Córdoba Murcia
High speed rail network
Sevilla Puente Genil
Commercial high speed stations
Antequera Granada High speed lines under construction
Future high speed stations
Cádiz Jerez Málaga Almería Conventional network (Iberian gauge)
Conventional network sections upgraded for 200 km/h

Forthcoming projects Mediterranean
I corridor

In the last five years the Spanish high speed network
has grown by approximately 560 km with the entry
into service of four new high speed routes: Barcelo-
Adif Alta Velocidad is at a very advanced stage of
na-French border, Albacete-Alicante, Valladolid-Pa- • Valencia-Castellón: On this important rail axis,
lencia-Leon and Olmedo-Zamora. In addition to completion with the upgrade of the 73.6 km long
these lines, several sections of high performance Valencia-Castellón section, which will extend the
lines have also entered into operation, such as the high speed train service on the Madrid-Valencia
94 km long Santiago-Vigo line, part of the Atlantic line.
High Speed Axis, and the final sections completing The upgrade of the Valencia-Castellón line to
the upgrade of the Seville-Cadiz line (143.5 km long), international standard gauge has mostly consisted
as well as various improvements made to the Medi- of renewing the track and installing a third rail, which
na-Salamanca (80 km) and Palencia-Santander (217 will enable traffic to run on either gauge. The sta-
km) lines. tions on the line have also been refurbished to hand-
But work on extending and improving the le the new services.
network continues. Adif Alta Velocidad currently The work is practically finished; running tests
has over 1,200 km under construction, spread over started on March 21 with one of Adif’s laboratory tra-
various sections and lines, some of which are at a ins prior to the entry into service of the new con-
very advanced stage of completion, requiring only nection.
some finishing touches before they come into ser- • Monforte del Cid-Murcia: This 67 km long con-
vice. nection branches off of the high speed section

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