Page 37 - Vía Libre Special - 25 Years of Spanish High Speed Rail

the French border via the existing conventional Ma- and Madrid-Andalusia high speed corridors will in-
drid-Hendaya line, allowing both international stan- crease the capacity of the infrastructure.
dard and Iberian gauge trains to run on the line. The route has three tunnels, perhaps the
The extremely complicated terrain through most impressive of which is the one between Ato-
which the new infrastructure passes has required a cha and Chamartín stations, which passes under
great many feats of engineering. 70% of the line is the capital city from north to south with a total
either on viaducts or in tunnels, and in the case of length of 6,900 metres. There are also eleven via-
the branch to San Sebastián the percentage is even ducts, the longest being the ones over the street
higher, a staggering 80%. Calle Comercio (129.5 metres) and the one over the
On the Vitoria-Bilbao line there are 34 tunnels M-40 ring road (649.1 metres).
and 55 viaducts, including the Arrazola viaduct and The track bed work is completed and work
the one over the A-2620 road, 1,755 metres and 1,412 on the electrification, communications and safety
metres long, respectively, and the 6,917 metre long installations, track laying, and the installation of
twin-bore Udalaitz tunnel on the Mondragón-Verga- noise protection screens is currently under way.
ra section.
Meanwhile the San Sebastián branch has 37
tunnels and 31 viaducts, among the longest of the la-
tter is the 1,025 metre long Hernani viaduct and the
one spanning the River Deba, which is 900 metres
long. The longest tunnel is the Zumárraga twin-bore
excavation which is 5,456 metres long.
Currently, the most significant work on the
Vitoria-Bilbao branch centres on structures on the
Lemona-Galdácano section, in particular the Galdá-
cano and Bistibieta viaducts. Meanwhile on the Gui-
púzcoa branch, work is in progress on the Zumárra-
ga, Asteasu and Aduna tunnels and the viaduct over
the River Urumea. GONZALO RUBIO

Work on the Atocha–Torrejón de Velasco
Chamartín- quadruple track.

Atocha-Torrejón de Madrid-

Velasco connection
Extremadura

high speed line
The high speed section between Chamartín-Ato-
cha and Torrejón de Velasco is 35.3 km long and
runs from the north to the south of the Communi-
ty of Madrid, passing through Madrid, Getafe, Pin- • Plasencia-Badajoz section. The Madrid-Extre-
to and Torrejón de Velasco. The project consists madura high speed line is approximately 450 km
of the quadruplication of the Madrid-Seville high long, around 205 km of which runs through the
speed line between the station of Atocha and To- Autonomous Region of Extremadura. The section
rrejón de Velasco, and the connection of the Ma- closest to entering into service is the 188.4 km
drid stations of Puerta de Atocha and Chamartín long Plasencia-Badajoz section.
through an international gauge tunnel. The Plasencia-Badajoz line has two tun-
The entry into service of this line will enable nels, the 3,325 metre long Santa Marina tunnel
the lines in the south and east of mainland Spain and the 1,000 metre long Puerto Viejo tunnel.
to be connected with those of the north, provi- There are also 28 viaducts, of which we would
ding the high speed network with continuity and highlight the Almonte, Tajo, and Valdetravieso
obviating the current need to change gauge at viaducts (996, 1,488 and 1,596 metres long res- years of Spanish high speed rail
Atocha and Chamartín. The incorporation of two pectively).
new tracks on the accesses to the Madrid-Levante Currently, the most significant work is cen-

Vía Libre • Special 25th Anniversary of the AVE Edition 37