Ms. María Luisa Domínguez, President of Spanish Infrastructure Manager AdifAV, announced the plan for the first direct railway between the Spanish cities of Murcia and Almeria.

The 3 billion euro new line will be an electrified standard gauge railway designed to help build a modern railway in this area of the Mediterranean arc. Between Murcia, Purpi and Aguilas, the existing single-track non-electrified 1668 mm gauge railway will be partially rebuilt on the new route into a double-track standard gauge electrified line, and the level crossing will also be demolished. The new high-speed line will branch off from the reconstructed line in Pulpi and reach Almeria.

It is estimated that the rail transport demand between Murcia and Aguilas will reach 2 to 3 million passengers per year, compared to 1.2 million passengers currently. The total length of the upgrade is 106.9 kilometers. This will be divided into seven parts, of which the Lorca-Pulpi part is the longest at 31.3 kilometers. In these seven sections, there are 23 viaducts, 9 tunnels and 20 buildings.

The new railway will receive 446.6 million euros in funding through the European Recovery and Recovery Mechanism (MRR) through the NextGenerationEU facility. Adif also confirmed plans for a two-track standard rail line from Madrid’s Chamartín station to the T4 terminal of Barajas Adolfo Suarez Airport, which will be connected to the high-speed network.

Funding for the new line will also be provided by the EU through the next generation of EU facilities. Adif has announced its public consultation plan, and this process will take 15 days. While developing specific high-speed rail connections, Adif is making plans to allow short- to medium-term access by some long-distance trains from Chamartín to the airport. This will be achieved by sharing the tracks used by the Cercanías service in Madrid.

Keywords: railway plan, international engineering news, foreign engineering project information

Adif had previously announced plans to invest heavily in its infrastructure, including the Chamartín station.Editor/Baohongying