He Council of Ministers has today authorized Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility will launch a call for tenders amounting to 64.7 million euros (VAT not included), through Adif, to renew the conventional Bobadilla-Algeciras line and adapt it to services future Railway highway (AF) between Algeciras and Zaragoza.
The contract provides for the execution of two projects. On the one hand, the adaptation of templates in the tunnels. More specifically, actions will be addressed in infrastructure such as extension of the tunnel section at the points where it collides with the new gauge request; and in the superstructure, with its refocusing by tearing out the track, the Executive announced in a note.
“Although this work does not include the electrification of the line, the new templates will take into account the space requirements required by the future implementation of this traction system,” added the government. On the other hand, improving the stability of the slope on which the railway platform is located, located between the municipalities of Almargen and Setenil.
The second of these projects to be contracted aims to adapt the size of 21 tunnels to the dimensions required by semi-trailers to the measures necessary for rail and road service.
The call Algeciras-Zaragoza railway highway It is the axis of rail freight transport which must bring together all the flow of Andalusian ports – the port of Cádiz is one of the most important on the continent – and evacuate it towards the north of Spain and the Europe.
The ADIF investment plan is reactivated
This is the branch where the two major corridors that the European Union traced more than ten years ago meet: the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. And its packaging is crucial to multiply the logistical options of Córdoba, a strategic exit node from southern Spain to the rest of the northern route.
Last March HASThe DIF launches an investment plan of 468 million to refine the tracks, templates, tunnels, platforms, stations that can accommodate 750 meter convoys carrying trucks, sidings, etc. A million dollar plan which covers the section between Algeciras, Bobadilla-Antequera and Cordoba then its subsequent connection with Madrid and from there to the Zaragoza Plaza terminal. With this green light, a boost is given to the southern part of the central branch.
Thus, the slope stabilization work will be carried out between kilometers 35 and 42 of the line, and will consist of raising the platform to allow the execution of mortar piles to improve the foundation of the new platform.
The construction of breakwater walls and shoulders for protection is also planned. In parallel with the above, the construction of a surface and deep drainage network is planned, with the corresponding transverse drainage works. Once this work is completed, the platform and will go up the track. This intervention will improve traffic reliability along the stretch, also reducing maintenance costs.
The Ministry of Transport recalled that a call for tenders had already been launched to adapt the tunnels located between Córdoba and Santa Cruz de Mudela (Alcázar de San Juan-Cádiz line crossing the provinces of Ciudad Real, Jaén and Córdoba) to the gauge necessary for future services on this highway. Work costing 29.8 million euros (VAT included).
Impact of 360 trucks per route
In addition, works to adapt the tunnels and viaducts between Madrid and Zaragoza were awarded an additional 78 million euros (VAT included). In total, in the Algeciras-Zaragoza AF route, which extends between Port of Algeciras Bay and the Zaragoza Plaza terminal, interventions will be carried out on 174 structures: 43 tunnels and 131 viaducts.
Likewise, the ministry will carry out the extension of the tracks up to 750 meters in a total of 17 stations, which will strengthen the efficiency and competitiveness of the route. In this area, a call for tenders was recently launched for an amount of 8.9 million euros to extend the sectional tracks at the Arcos de Jalón (Soria) and Sigüenza stations to the useful length. (Guadalajara).
On the Algeciras-Zaragoza route there will be two daily circulations per direction in the initial phase, which will be extended to three daily trains per direction (passing through Córdoba) one year after the start of the service with trucks with origin/destination . Moroccoto which are added two daily trains (one in each direction) from Huelva to Zaragoza, with trucks from/to the Canary Islands and around Huelva, and four other daily trains (two in each direction) between Seville and Zaragoza, with trucks to the origin/destination. Port of Seville and the rest of Andalusia. Thus, approximately 12,000 kilometers will be traveled daily by train and approximately 360 trucks on this route, avoiding 360,000 km of truck traffic on the road per day.
The Algeciras-Zaragoza services, which are financed by the New generation fundswill continue to Tarragona, passing through Lleida, a stretch that connects the main production and consumption nodes, Madrid and Barcelona, and is part of the central and southern flows with the northeast of Spain and the rest of Europe.
