Page 8 - Vía Libre Special - 25 Years of Spanish High Speed Rail

SPECIAL

years of Spanish high speed rail

from any existing line in Spain and in line with the
trend seen in other countries with more advanced
railway networks, such as Japan, France and
Germany.
It also meant building the entire
infrastructure all the way from Madrid to Seville,
and not just the middle section, together with
the introduction of new, much more ambitious
design parameters, capable of allowing speeds
of up to 270 km/h. Entry into operation was set
to coincide with the inauguration of the Seville
Expo, scheduled for April 1992, just four years
later.

The project of the century

overall, the construction of the Madrid-
Seville high speed line was the greatest railway
engineering project ever undertaken in Spain, and
the most important public work in the 20th century.
New building procedures and control systems Inside of the cab of an AVE train running on the
never before seen in Spain were implemented, Madrid-Seville high speed line (in the 1990s).
including environmental protection measures in
the areas of high ecological value through which
the line passes. Trains
The overall investment required for the
project amounted to 350,000 million pesetas of To operate the line a number of Series 100
the time (2,100 million euros), including not only high speed trains were ordered from GEC-Alsthom
the work per se, but also the associated costs (now Alstom). The first train arrived in Spain in
of expropriations, studies, designs and technical November 1991 after an intensive trial period in the
support, and environmental impact remediation French factory at Belfort, while another train was
measures. The unit cost of the line was less than tested on the LGV Sud Europe Atlantique line.
740 million pesetas per kilometre (4.5 million euros). Since its arrival the AVE train has become
a symbol of Spanish high speed. The line was the
A few figures first in the world to incorporate the two most
advanced European railway technologies of the
The line is characterized by having a first day; French technology for the train and German
part, Madrid-Brazatortas, where the terrain is expertise for signalling and electrification.
very favourable, a second part, crossing the Sierra The trains that began running on the
Morena mountain range and the subsequent Madrid-Seville line, and which continue to run
descent into the Guadalquivir valley, of a much both on that line and others belonging to Spain’s
more rugged nature, and a third part, running high speed network, were capable of reaching a
parallel to the river between Cordoba and Seville, maximum speed of 300 km/h. They delivered 8,800
in which the terrain is once again favourable. kW of power and could run off both alternating
In total the 471 kilometres of the line current at 25,000 volts (needed to reach high
required the excavation of nearly 38 million cubic speeds) and direct current at 3,000 volts (to
metres of earth and the construction of over 35 enter the stations of Madrid and Seville, which
million cubic metres of embankment. In addition initially retained the electrification system used
it was necessary to build 31 viaducts with a total by the Spanish conventional network to avoid
length of 9,845 metres, four flying junctions, and 17 electromagnetic interferences).
tunnels totalling 15,819 metres in length. Traction was provided by three-phase
Laying the track required the use of 2.84 synchronous motors driving four motor bogies,
million cubic metres of ballast, 1.6 million sleepers, each with two 1,100 kW motors. Braking was by
and 113,010 metric tons rail, supplied in 288 metre discs with an anti-locking system and the trains
lengths. were fitted with pneumatic suspension.

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