Page 34 - Vía Libre Special - 25 Years of Spanish High Speed Rail

SPECIAL

years of Spanish high speed rail

GONZALO RUBIO

A Series 730 train at Ocaña.

Antequera– Madrid–Galicia

Granada high speed line

This 122 km long line will join up with the Cordo- • Zamora-Orense section. The entry into service
ba-Malaga branch of the Madrid-Andalusia high of this 229 km long section will complete the Ma-
speed corridor and will take high speed rail as far as drid-Galicia line.
the city of Granada. It has been necessary to build It is being built in two large sections: Zamo-
four tunnels and 31 viaducts, the most impressive of ra-Pedralba de la Pradería-Lubián, 129 km in leng-
which is the one at Archidona, which is 3,150 metres th, and Lubián-Orense, around 100 km long. Due
long and carries the tracks over the River Guadalhor- to the ruggedness of the terrain, especially in the
ce, and the one over the A-92, with a length 2,525 Lubián-Orense section, 36 tunnels and 45 viaducts
metres. The line will have three stations: Antequera, are needed. Seven of these tunnels are on the 118.1
Loja, and Granada. The new high speed station of km long section between the city of Zamora and
Antequera is being built parallel to the existing one, the Zamoran village of Pedralba de la Pradería,
which it will replace. Its entry into service will speed among which is the 1,537.5 metre long Puebla tun-
up the high speed connection between Granada and nel, and fourteen viaducts, the longest of which is
Malaga since trains will able to stop there without the 645 metre long Tera viaduct.
having to divert to the present day Antequera Santa Between Pedralba de la Pradería and the
Ana station. Espiño tunnels there are no fewer than sixteen
In the case of the station at Granada, the tunnels (including the aforementioned 1,537.5
facilities, including the track fan and the pass- metre long one) and twelve viaducts, one of
enger building, have been radically revamped to which, the Requejo viaduct, is 2,079 metres long.
meet the needs of the high speed rail service. The Meanwhile on the route between Vilariño de
work includes the adaptation of the area around Conso and Taboadela, thirteen tunnels totalling
the terminal, with the creation of a new public 63 km and nineteen viaducts with a total leng-
area to facilitate intermodality with the future li- th of 4.5 km are planned. The most outstanding
ght railway. examples of each are the 8.5 km long twin-bore

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