Adif - Abrimos caminos

Starting from Puerta de Atocha station, the line heads towards Cuenca and Motilla del Palancar. In this last Cuenca town we have the first junction of the project where a branch continues to Valencia and Castellón, and another heads towards Albacete and La Encina. In this last place we have another junction which connects with the Mediterranean Corridor with high performance between Barcelona and Almería. Here, a stretch heads towards Játiva and Valencia and the other continues towards the southeast, which is the one which reaches Monforte del Cid, the town where the segment branches towards Alicante and the section towards Murcia and Cartagena.

This first section runs through the provinces of Madrid, Toledo and Cuenca, to Motilla del Palancar, where it links up with the sections towards Albacete and Valencia.

It starts in the surroundings of the Madrid town of Torrejón de Velasco, around kilometre point 28 of the Madrid-Seville line.

All connections are performed at different levels by the corresponding fly-overs. The geometry designed permits the connection both with the current operational Madrid-Seville line and the future quadruplication.

Noteworthy infrastructures in the Torrejón – Motilla del Palancar section:

The most complex part of the section, both orographically and environmentally, is the crossing with the river Júcar.

After passing this orographic difficulty, we now come to the entry in the city of Albacete, concluding the section in its current station, which will be conveniently reformed to receive the high speed train, also being an important station in the passage of the line which will continue to Alicante and Murcia.

Albacete station

The arrival of high speed to this locality involves modernisation of all rail services and the construction of a new passenger building.

It represents the most advanced and innovative model of rail terminals that Adif is implementing. The project has the main objective of modernizing Albacete's current facilities, to adapt them to the new uses required by the arrival of the high speed trains and to create a complete network of complementary services for passengers.

The action that NEFSA (joint venture with 60% stake of Riofisa and 40% by Adif) is carrying out in Albacete Station is registered within the Vialia programme, a project which consists of transforming Adif's stations in modern centres where activities complementary to that of transport shall be implemented, with the purpose of integrating the station as an axis of transport, meeting place, leisure and culture.

It consists of almost 25 km of tunnels, a further 11 km of viaducts and a station in the surroundings of the towns of Requena and Utiel.

It is an emblematic section within the future high speed line and of great technical difficulty and maximum requirement due to the orography of the land passed through at different points of the section.

It starts from the connection with the Albacete section, in Motilla del Palancar and runs through the provinces of Cuenca and Valencia.

The route advances without great difficulties, beside the A-3 dual carriageway, to the Nature Reserve of Hoces del Rio Cabriel. Important engineering works start in this area with a succession of tunnels and viaducts of enormous technical complexity.

Here, the viaduct of Contreras reservoir is located which, with a span of 261 metres, will break the record of greatest concrete arch of the Spanish rail network.

Once the orographic difficulties of the Hoces has been overcome, the second part of the route starts, beginning by running through flat lands with gentle gradients.

Among the most significant infrastructures we have the viaduct over river Magro and the A3, beside the town of San Antonio de Requena and the future Requena – Utiel station.

From this point, the line starts a constant descent to Hoya de Buñol, passing through the Sierra de la Cabrera mountains.

In this area we find Cabrera tunnel, which is by far the longest of the line with a length of 7,250 m.  It has been excavated by a tunnel boring machine, being the first time that this type of machine has been used in the Valencian Community.

Since work started, the tunnel boring machine has beaten the work record for daily perforation distance seven times.

Having passed through the Sierra de la Cabrera mountains, the line comes to the last part of the route, between Buñol and Valencia.

In this area the infrastructures of the artificial tunnel of Torrent, almost 3000 m in length, and the passage through Rambla del Gallo, formed by a succession of viaducts and pergolas which cross other transport routes, stand out.

Arrival to Valencia is made by a singular viaduct over River Turia, which will include a mixed gauge track for the Almusafes cargo traffic.

High speed will involve a considerable transformation throughout the rail network of the city, since Iberian gauge installations and facilities will also be improved.

Valencia is entered through an underground tunnel 4,200 m in length.

The Estación del Norte station shall be remodeled and expanded to deal with the new rail services. It will stop being a terminus, thanks to a new underground rail connection provided for the Mediterranean Corridor services, towards Castellón and Barcelona; as well as the suburban rail network, with two new underground stations.

In the land recovered for the city, the most outstanding work shall be the creation of a large urban park.

CONTRERAS RESERVOIR VIADUCT (Contreras – Villargordo del Cabriel section)

ISTMO VIADUCT. (Contreras – Villargordo del Cabriel section)

VIADUCT OVER THE RIVER MAGRO AND THE A-3

NEW REQUENA - UTIEL STATION (San Antonio de Requena and Requena subsection)

LA CABRERA TUNNEL

TORRENT ARTIFICIAL TUNNEL

RAMBLA DEL GALLO VIADUCT

PERGOLA IN THE PICAYA - VALENCIA SECTION

RIVER TURIA VIADUCT

VALENCIA JOAQUÍN SOROLLA STATION

The agreement between the Ministry of Public Works, the Autonomous Government of Valencia, Valencia City Council, Renfe and GIF to remodel the rail network of the city of Valencia was signed on 26 February 2003 and published in the DOGV (Official Journal of the Autonomous Government of Valencia) no. 4525, of 19 June 2003.

Valencia parque central

It is a set of actions that will considerably renovate the current configuration of the Valencia railway system, as it affects its entire railway functionality: passenger and cargo, long distance and suburban trains, high speed network and conventional network, Iberian track gauge and international gauge.

Entry in Valencia is made by an underground tunnel 4.2 km in length, which ends in the future central station. There will be entry on two levels for all the long distance and suburban trains in Valencia.

From this station it is planned for this section to develop to Castellón, which will allow to continue in the future towards Barcelona.

A new mixed gauge underground railway connection shall be built, so that both high speed, UIC gauge, and suburban trains, with Iberian gauge, can circulate under the city. In this new underground section, two underground stations shall be built to give suburban train services; Aragón station, intermodal with line 5 of Metrovalencia, and Universidad station, close to the university campus.

The most singular urban action is the generation of a large public urban park, which will be located in the current track beach to the south of the station.

New Valencia Station

Valencia station shall be remodeled and expanded by building a large station which will be positioned to the south of the current one and beside it, and it will have 12 tracks, distributed on two different levels, with 6 tracks each and with an intermediate level for changing trains with the Metro and Trantrack lines. The upper tracks are used for lines without continuity by the through shaft, whilst the lower shafts shall be allocated for lines which have continuity by the through shaft.

The part of the new station which is not underground, which will hold the lobby and long distance passenger services, is integrated with the current station.

Estación del Norte currently forms part of the Historic Ensemble of the city of Valencia (declared of Cultural Interest in 1993). Main work of the architect Demetrio Ribes, in Viennese secession style, it is one of the symbols and architectural values of Valencia and one of the buildings Valencians feel most identified with. For this reason, one of the main challenges of the entire work is to harmonize the old and the new building.

This route has already a total of 100.5 km of track in Iberian gauge, adapted for high speed, which will be put into service once the two large track sections are built: Albacete- Alpera by-pass, and Alpera by-pass – Nudo de la Encina.

Between Nudo de la Encina-Xativa (Phase I) the works planned consist of the adaptation of the railroad bed, track assembly, electrification and installations, for double Iberian gauge track designed for the future traffic of cargo, regional and suburban trains.

Once this double track has been put into service, all traffic shall be deviated along it and second phase works shall start, which consist of the adaptation of the current railroad bed for high speed passenger traffic in double international gauge track.

It is the section that coincides with the Mediterranean Corridor with high performance between Barcelona and Almería. It circulates in parallel to the conventional track already in existence.

An archaeological site was found in the Xátiva-L’Enova subsection, which made it necessary to built two viaducts that allowed it to be preserved.

VIADUCT OVER THE RIVER JUCAR

Partnerships established for the remodelling of the railway network in the cities of Murcia and Cartagena.